Chap. VIII.
BRITAIN.
537
and that whereas divers did claim common of pasture in sundry of the said grounds, it wasagreed that the king should issue out his commission under the great seal of England tocertain persons to treat and conclude with those commoners, by way of compensation inland or money concerning the same. Commissions were accordingly directed to severalgentlemen of those counties to treat with the several parties who had right of common; andthe whole being submitted to Sir John Bankes, the Attorney-General, lie made an award,viz.: that of 13,400 acres belonging to that manor, which was then to be drained with therest of the level, 6000 should be allotted to the commoners as their part or portion,lving next to the towns, and so preserved for ever at the charge of the said Cornelius Ver-muyden, and the remaining 7400 acres to be set out in the remotest parts of those wastesto Sir C. Vermuyden and his participants for their third part, and for the said king’s part inright of his interest as lord of the soil, which by consent was decreed in the ExchequerChamber, and possession thereupon established with the said Cornelius Vermuyden and hisparticipants, and to their assigns.”
When this agreement was made the work was commenced, and in five years, after an ex-penditure of 55,825/., it was completed; the water which had overflowed the entire level beingconveyed into the Trent through Snow sewer and Althorpe river, by a sluice, which allowedthe issue of the drained water at every ebb, and kept back the tide at the flow. These fenlands are rendered more difficult to drain in consequence of there being no calcareous strataseparating the Kimmeridge and Oxford clays, as is usually the case, but which are herefound in contact, and extend to a very considerable depth. These strata, not allowing thewater to percolate, can only be drained by conducting it away on the surface, a greatobstruction to which, is the low level of the entire district, which has little fall towards theocean, indeed in many parts is absolutely below it.
Soon after the drainage of this district, the town of Sandtoft was built and inhabited by200 French families, or Walloon protestants, who had fled from their native country toenjoy the free exercise of their religion, in the year 1642, and the inhabitants who had beendeprived of their rights of common broke down the fences and inclosures of 4000 acres,destroyed all the corn growing, and demolished the houses ; they pulled up the flood-gatesof Snow river, let in the tides from the Trent, and again laid the greater part of Hatfield(’base under water.
The inhabitants of the island of Ancholme three years afterwards threw down many ofthe hanks that had been constructed to keep the rivers in their course, filled up many ofthe drains, and altogether laid waste 74,000 acres ; and it was not till the year 1656 theseinjuries were redressed.
The marshes which lie on the north west of Lincolnshire , upon the borders of the riverAncholme, were drained in the year 1639, at the expense of Sir John Munson, “ a person,”says Dugdalc, “eminently qualified with learning, and sundry ample endowments, who, outof a noble desire to serve his country, undertook the work and accomplished it.”
The low lands on the south side of the Humber, and on the sea-coast in the province ofLindsey, were very ineffectually drained in the time of Henry III. , although we find thata sewer was opened for the purpose betwixt the towns of Brunthorpe and Orrebv, whichwas regularly scoured, cleansed, and repaired, by casting out the earth on each side, and thatvarious bridges were built over it for the convenience of the adjoining landowners.
In the reign of Edward I. a writ was issued to John Beeke and the sheriff of thecounty, to inquire if the river Friskney could be diverted and brought to the town ofGrimesby, for the better opening of that port, which was then silted up ; and in the suc-ceeding reigns many new sewers were cut, and more effectual drainage obtained; flood-gates were made at the various dams to keep out the sea; these were in pairs, generallyfrom 12 to 20 feet in width, and made of timber.
The manner in which the earth walls were set out in the time of Elizabeth in this dis-trict seems to have been by falls, for one then newly made at Skegnes by order of the com-missioners that sat at Partenay, and which was commenced at a place called HansomIlvrne, is described as having forty falls in length, from the north end of the said RansomIlyrne towards the south, and joining on, and closed to the old bank ; this sea-bankmeasured 50 feet in the skirt, 14 feet broad at the top, and was 12 feet in height.
The Marshes of Witham lie on the borders of the river of that name, which extends fromLincoln to Boston ; but its fall is so small, and the current so slow, that it could not bekept open either for the purposes of navigation or drainage, without constant cleansingfrom both mud and weeds. The navigation to Lincoln, which is now only sufficient forthe passage of small craft, was attempted to be improved in the reign of Henry VII . byMayhave Hake of Graveling, who brought with him from Flanders fourteen masons andlabourers, to make a proper sluice and dam near the town of Boston . Mayhave Hakereceived four shillings a day, the masons and stone hewers five shillings per week, and thelabourers four. The iron work required was made at Calais : among the items mentionedfor making this sluice were, small cramps and large, chains, hookes, bolts, scherys, maunds,pannes, troughs, water scoops; and the price of the iron seems to have been two ponce per