037 



BEDFORD LEVEL. 



BEDFORD LEVEL. 



instituted. Fairs are held on the first Tuesday in Lent, April 21st, 

 July 6th, August 21st, October 12th, November 17th, and December 

 1 9th. That held in October is of the most importance, and is called 

 the Statute Fair ; that in April is also a pleasure fair ; the others are 

 for the sale of cattle. 



(Gough's Camden's Britannia ; Lysons's Mayna Britannia ; Grose's 

 Antiquities; Rickman's Essay on Gothic Architecture ; Ecclesiastical and 

 Architectural Topography of Bedfordshire; Boundary Reports; 

 Accounts of the Bedford Charity for 1849; Reports on Charities; 

 Communications from Bedford, &c.) 



BEDFORD LEVEL. This district comprehends nearly the whole 

 of a large tract of flat land, extending into the six counties of 

 Northampton, Huntingdon, Cambridge, Lincoln, Norfolk, and Suffolk. 

 It ia bounded on the north-east by the German Ocean, and on all 

 other sides by high lands, which encompass it in the form of a horse- 

 shoe. Its length from Toynton in Lincolnshire to Milton in 

 Cambridgeshire is 60 miles, and its breadth from Peterborough in 

 Northamptonshire to Bniudon in Suffolk is nearly 40 miles. The 

 tract thus described includes that part of the south-east division of 

 Lincolnshire called Holland, which consists of flat, low, marshy land, 

 and is - opposed to have been reclaimed from the sea by embankments 

 made during the Roman occupation of Britain. 



The Bedford Level extends to the north only as far as Tydd-St.- 

 Giles; its length thence to Milton on the south is about S3 miles. 

 The boundary line is irregular; its course on the south, from Brandon 

 to Peterborough, may be traced by Mildeuhall to a short distance 

 north of Newmarket, then by Milton in Cambridgeshire, to Earith, 

 on the borders of Huntingdonshire, Ramsey, Woodwalton, and 

 Yaxley, iu the latter county. Returning from Peterborough to 

 Brandon, on the north, the boundary line runs by Peakirk, six miles 

 north of Peterborough, Crowland, Whaplode Drove Chapelry, Parson 

 Drove, Guyhiru, Walter's Lode on the Ouse, about 10 miles south of 

 Lynn, and thence by Methwold to Brandon. 



The Level is divided into three parts, which are distinguished as 

 the North, the Middle, and the South Levels. The North Level lies 

 between the rivers Welland and Nene; the Middle Level between 

 the Neue and the Old Bedford River ; and the South Level extends 

 from the Old Bedford River to Stoke, Feltwell, and Mildeuhall. The 

 area of these marshes is differently estimated, but may be taken in 

 round numbers at about 400,000 acres. 



Peterborough Fen, which is the part of the Level that runs into 

 Northamptonshire, extends between Peterborough and Crowland, and 

 contains between 8000 and 9000 acrea. One-seventh part of the 

 Level in in Huntingdonshire. The whole of the Isle of Ely, which 

 forms the north division of Cambridgeshire, and a few parishes in the 

 game county, which lie south-east of the isle, are included iu the 

 Level Norfolk contains 63,000, and Suffolk 30,000 acres of the 

 Level ; the remainder is iu the south-east division of Lincolnshire. 



This tract of land has in the course of some centuries undergone 

 remarkable changes. There is abundant evidence to prove that it 

 was once a forest, and that it then became a stagnant morass. It is 

 now converted into rich pastures and fertile corn-fields. It would 

 appear that this country was once dry land, at a level much below the 

 present surface ; and there is reason for supposing that at the time 

 of the invasion of Britain by the Romans it consisted of one of 

 those great forests to which the Britons fled for shelter against their 

 invaders. It was the policy of the Romans to cut down and destroy 

 these strong holds of the natives, who were compelled by their 

 conquerors to clear the woods and embank the fens. (Tacit. ' Agric.' 

 31.) The emperor Severus, in the beginning of the 3rd century of 

 our era, caused roads to be made through these marshes. One of 

 these roads, 25 miles in length, extended from Peterborough to 

 Drnver in Norfolk; it was 60 feet wide, and composed of gravel 

 3 feet deep. This causeway is now covered with soil from 3 to 5 feet 

 in thickness. Henry of Huntingdon, who wrote in the middle of 

 thu 12th century, describes this fenny country as being "very pleasant 

 and agreeable to the eye, watered by many rivers which run through, 

 diversified with many large and small lakes, and adorned with many 

 woods and islands." William of Malmesbury, who lived about the 

 name period, described the Lordship of Thorney as abounding in 

 lofty trees, fruitful vines, and productive orchards, and having no 

 waste land in any part. He also expressed great admiiation of the 

 works of art found in the same place. " What shall I say," he 

 writes, "of ^he beautiful buildings which it is so wonderful to see 

 the ground amidst those fens to bear ? " 



Up to the 1 3th century the waters usually flowed in their natural 

 channels, and the surrounding country was either under tillage or in 

 pasturage. 



According to Dugdale, historians who were contemporary with the 

 event nave recorded that iu 1236 on the morrow after Martinmas 

 day, and for the space of eight days after, the wind raged so 

 violently that the sea rose much higher than usual, and broke in at 

 Wisbeach and other places of the district, so that many people and 

 cattle together with numerous small craft were destroyed, and the 

 surviving inhabitants reduced to great distress. After an interval of 

 17 years a similar accident occurred, and on this occasion an order 

 wa issued by the king requiring the inhabitants to repair the banks. 

 Thu work appears to have been inefficiently performed, for within a 



few years the sea-banks were again destroyed. Subsequent embank- 

 ments were improperly made, either through ignorance, or for the 

 benefit of one part to the injury of all the rest. An instance of this 

 kind occurred in the reign of Edward I., when Walter de Langtou, 

 bishop of Lichfield, diverted the course of the Neue and obstructed 

 the navigation, in order that he might drain his own manor of 

 Coldham. Many years afterwards the bishop's representatives were 

 compelled to destroy the dams which he had constructed to the injury 

 of others. From this and other causes the waters from the uplands 

 were prevented from discharging themselves into the sea, and this 

 extent of land was at length reduced to the state of a morass. For 

 a long period the greater part of the district was composed of an 

 unhealthy stagnation of putrid and muddy waters, which in some 

 places stood from 10 to 20 feet deep. In those few parts where the 

 earth was not covered with water it was spongy and boggy. The 

 inhabitants of the Fens, and the towns in their neighbourhood, could 

 only have communication by means of boats, and this with some 

 difficulty at all times, in consequence of the sedge and slime with 

 which the ground was covered. In the winter when there was ice, 

 yet not sufficiently hard to admit of traffic on its surface, the inhabit- 

 ants were completely isolated, and " could hardly get help of food 

 Tor soul or body." 



Evidence has everywhere been found below the actual surface not 

 only of the presence of former vegetation, but to show that these 

 places had previously been inhabited, and that they were suddenly 

 overwhelmed by some violent cause. In digging near Thorney, Lynn, 

 and many other places, trees of large size were found buried iu the 

 moss, and lying near their roots, which still remained as they grew 

 in firm earth beneath the moss. At various times roots of trees have 

 been found 18 feet below the present surface ; furze-roots and nut- 

 trees, 17 feet below the surface ; a hard stony bottom with boats filled 

 with silt, 8 feet below the bed of Wisbeach River ; a smith's forge 

 and tan-vats, 16 feet below the surface; the remains of a church 

 far beneath the soil ; and it is stated by Dugdale that at Wigenhall 

 St. Germans, the floor of the church is 7 feet lower than high-water 

 mark of the Ouse : which river, as it runs by the churchyard, is kept 

 by a strong bank from inundating the country. 



The principal rivers or drains which formerly passed through this 

 Level were eight in number : the Glen, the Welland, the Nene, the 

 Ouse, the Cam, the Mildenhall or Lark, the Brandon or little Ouse, 

 and the Stoke. 



The Glen is a small stream which rises in the south of Lincoln- 

 shire, and taking first a south-south-east and afterwards a north-east 

 course, falls into the Welland on its left bank near its moiith. The 

 Welland comes from the south-west to Market Deeping, continues 

 thence a short distance to the east, and then takes a north-east course 

 until it joins the Fossdike Wash near Fossdike. The Nene passes by 

 Peterborough, continues thence to Wisbeach, and falls into the Suttou 

 Washway. The Wisbeach River, or Old Nene, which issues from 

 Ramsey Mere, is a branch of this river. The Ouse passes by St. Ives 

 and Earith, after which it takes an irregular winding course, first 

 east and then nearly north, till it falls into the Wash at Lynn Regis 

 in Norfolk : the Cam, the Lark, and the Little Ouse fall into it on its 

 cast bank. 



The Level receives the waters of the whole or parts of nine counties 

 from the uplands ; and the whole tract being flat, with little or no 

 descent, it has hitherto been a matter of difficulty to provide a suffi- 

 cient outfall so that the waters may reach the sea without overflowing 

 the country. 



The practicability of draining this great morass seems first to have 

 been entertained in 1436, when the attention of many wealthy persons 

 was turned towards the subject. Embankments were made, and 

 ditches cut at a vast expense ; but the next winter proving wet and 

 tempestuous, the Ouse swollen by its tributaries into a torrent swept 

 away the barriers, and reduced the whole country to its former con- 

 dition. 



In the reign of Henry VII. Bishop Moreton made an attempt to 

 drain the North Level and the northern parts of the Middle Level by 

 means of a cut, called ' Moreton's Leame,' which extended from Peter- 

 borough to Guyhirn, and is now considered part of the Nene : this cut 

 was 40 feet wide, and was navigable. The earth of which the embank- 

 ments were made was loose and sandy, so that they crumbled away. 

 Another attempt was made in the reign of Elizabeth, and a third in 

 the reign of her successor ; but nothing effectual was done until 1634, 

 in the reign of Charles I., when another attempt to drain these Fens 

 was mode by Francis Duke of Bedford ; and it was in compliment to 

 this nobleman that the tract reclaimed has been named the ' Bedford 

 Level.' 



The lordship of Thorney, containing 18,000 acres, was the property 

 of the Earl, and except a hillock upon which the abbey had been 

 built, the whole of this tract was under water. The wish to reclaim 

 this land induced him to embark in the undertaking. As a compen- 

 sation for the risk and expense, he stipulated that he and his partners 

 in the work should receive as payment 95,000 acres of the reclaimed 

 land. Under this condition a charter was granted to the adventurers; 

 numerous cuts, drains, embankments, and sluices were made, and the 

 work was partially accomplished in the course of three years, at an 

 outlay of 100,000i. 



