74 Lincolnshire Notes & Queries. 



be seen on the wing; starlings whirled about in clouds, and 

 broke down the reeds as they settled upon them ; and, where 

 now the great engineering works of Lincoln are carried on, flocks 

 of wild swans were seen, and the boomingof the bittern was heard. 

 The fens were a sure and easy means of livelihood to those 

 who dwelt in them. They netted the fish and trapped the 

 eels, they stalked and shot the wildfowl, and brought them all 

 on market days to the towns around. Many of them lived on 

 the water in house boats nearly all the year through; while 

 those on the outskirts kept large flocks of geese and sheep on 

 the rich grass lands ; and all loved their wild free life. No 

 wonder, then, that, in 1768, numbers of them, fearing the loss 

 of their old privileges, assembled to prevent the inclosure of 

 Holland Fen. Unfortunately they committed great excesses, 

 for they were a wild and lawless set. Men were shot ; horses 

 and sheep barbarously killed and mutilated ; houses and 

 haystacks burned, and much mischief was done : and, though 

 all this must be deplored, there is many a Lincolnshire man 

 left who can feel with the old fen-men yet. To many 

 amongst us the fen district is still a happy hunting-ground, 

 and a land full of beauty as well. Many there are who see in 

 it no mere level waste, but a land of glorious landscapes and 

 happy feeding cattle ; of rich sunsets and flights of birds ; a 

 land of rare water-plants and reeds ; of deep, clear pools where 

 the big pike lie ; and of 



"tangled water-courses . . . , 

 Shot over with purple, and green, and yellow." 



We have only now to enquire whether the sea took any part 

 in all we have been considering, or whether it was the result 

 of river action alone. 



The low land to the east of the wolds has, no doubt, since 

 glacial times, been frequently covered by the sea: the Romans, 

 in fact, raised the sea bank to keep it out. The Witham also, 

 until stopped by the locks at Boston, was tidal ; and the sea 

 would often run over the land long after the fens were 

 reclaimed, and partially drained, as J. Ingelow records in her 

 well-known poem, " The High Tide on the coast of Lincoln- 

 shire, 1571"; and, even as late as 1779, Mr. Padley, in his 

 work before referred to, speaks of " many vessels on the 

 Lincolnshire coast being driven two miles in the marshes 

 during a heavy gale." 



Besides this, a reference to the drift map of the Geological 

 Survey round Lincoln will show remains of marine peat, and 



