Chap. VIII.
535
Under these several acts the various breaches whicn took place from time to time in theThames banks were repaired, but in spite of the several commissions, it appears from a re-presentation made to parliament in the fifth year of Elizabeth, that upwards of 2000 acresof land had laid thirty years under water in the parishes of Erith , Leslies, and Plumstead,which in former times were excellent pastures. It was also represented, “ that one JacobusAconytus, an Italian, and servant to the queen, had undertaken at his own charges therecovery thereof, in consideration of a moiety of it for his charges; but that the lords andowners thereof were many, and had several kind of estates therein, whereby their assentsand good assurances could not be procured. It was therefore enacted that the said Jacobusand his assigns, and their servants, factors, and labourers, &c., should at the cost and chargesof the said Jacobus after the tenth day of March, in the year 1572, for the term of fouryears then next following, inn, fence, and win the said grounds or any parcel of them ; andthat having so won and fenced the same or any of them, that he the said Jacobus and hisheirs, or such person or persons anti their heirs as he or his executors should nominate, bytheir writing enrolled in one of the said queen’s courts of record at Westminster, or by histhe said Jacobus’s last will and testament, in consideration of such recompense, should haveand enjoy the one moiety thereof, to be severed from the residue, within two years nextafter the said winning thereof, by four or more discreet commissioners, to be nominated andappointed by the lord chancellor, and being so severed, lots to be cast for concluding of eachportion to either parties.
After the two years had expired, “there were only 600 acres won and inned with walls,banks, &t\, which afterwards, by the violence of the floods, were again overflowed and lost,”and Jacobus Aconytus then deputed John Baptista Castilion, John Gresham, and others,to undertake the work, and after many years’ fruitless attempts, it was enacted that WilliamBurrell of Ratcliff, in the county of Middlesex, gentleman, should have power to enterupon the work, and to take reed and earth, in any part of the sain drowned marsh, so as hethe said William, nor any employed therein under him, should not dig within twenty rodsof any wall already made within that marsh, and that immediately after his accomplishmentof the same, he the said William, his heirs and assigns, to have the one-half of all the saidgrounds so to be inned, according to the purport and true meaning of the said recited in-denture, the other moiety to belong to the owners of the said marsh grounds according tothe several proportion of their quantities which they had in those grounds, to be holden ofEdmund Cooke, Esq., his heirs and assigns, as of his manor of Leslies and I'ants in freesoccage by fealty, and one penny rent for every acre, and not in chief, nor by knight’s service.And that in consideration of the great charge of this work, the said inned marshes to be dis-charged from all tithes and tenths whatsoever, for and during the term of seven years nextafter the inning, winning, and fencing the same.”
We are not informed how long the work was in operation, but it was effectually accom-plished, after considerable difficulty, early in the 17th century.
In the month of September, 1621, the whole of Dagenham Level, on the Essex side of theriver Thames , was thrown under water by an extensive breach being made in the walls; thiswas speedily repaired by Cornelius Vermuden, of Saint Martin's Dyke, in the island ofTholen, near the mouth of the Scheldt, a gentleman expert in the art of banking and draining ;and as many of the owners refused to pay their proportion of the expenses, a portion of theland reclaimed was assigned to Vermuden by the king’s letters patent, which recited, “ thatwhere any person should be assessed by the commissioners of sewers to any lot, and refuseor neglect to pay the same, the land to be leased, or passed in fee simple, in recompense tothe undertaker.”
Drainage of the Fens in Lincolnshire, one of the most important, as well as one of theearliest works, in this branch of engineering, executed in England. These fens were entirelyinundated by the sea, though there is strong evidence for believing that previous to theirbeing covered with water, they formed a woody country, “ oak trees being frequently foundat a depth of 3 feet or more beneath the surface, lying near their roots, which still stand asthey grew in the firm earth below the moor, and the bodies for the most part north-westfrom the roots, not cut down with axes, but burnt asunder somewhat near the ground. Someof these trees are 5 yards in circumference, and 16 in length, and many have acornsremaining near them. There are also fir trees which lie 1 foot or 18 inches deeper ; many ofthem are more than 30 yards in length,” and according to Dugdule, one was taken out inthe year 1653, “36 yards long without the top, which was lying near the root, which stoodlikewise as it grew, having been burnt and not hewn down, which tree bore at the bottom10 inches square, and at the top 8.”
A ladder of fir was found in the moors at Thurne, with about forty staves, which were33 inches asunder, and at Haxey Carr a hedge with stakes and binders. So many treesare found here, that the inhabitants have, on an average, taken up, says the same author,2000 cart-loads in a year.
No memorial is ieft which can lead to a conjecture of when this vast inundation tookplace ; but without doubt it was occasioned by the elevation of the beds of the several rivers
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