30 THE GttEAT LEVEL OF THE EEXs. PART 1. 



At the dissolution of the monasteries, in the reign of 

 Henry Till., the drainage of the Fens, which, up to 

 that time, had heen conducted principally by the church- 

 men, suffered a serious check. The embankments were 

 neglected ; the rivers were allowed to silt up ; and 

 the Fen lands, covered with water, were abandoned 

 to fishes and water-fowl. The sea on the one hand, 

 and the inland waters on the other, required the exer- 

 cise of unceasing vigilance. Not only had the sea to 

 be held back, but the inland waters must be got rid of; 

 and of the two, the latter were usually the most danger- 

 ous. Where the river outfalls were neglected, and 

 allowed to be choked up by silt, the first heavy rain- 

 fall in the interior brought down a flood, for whose 

 escape there was no adequate outlet ; hence devastating 

 inundations from time to time occurred, and the waters 

 rapidly regained their dominion over the land. Thus, 

 in Elizabeth's reign, there occurred a great drowning 

 of the East Fen, near Boston, by which some five thou- 

 sand acres of land, under partial cultivation, were com- 

 pletely submerged; and the poor fenmen who had 

 formed their miserable settlements on the islets rising 

 above the waste, saw their little holdings swept awav. 

 Most of them barely escaped with their lives, but many 

 were drowned. Appeals were sent up to the Govern- 

 ment respecting the deplorable state of the district ; 

 and renewed efforts were made to keep out the waters. 

 A commission was appointed (20th Elizabeth) with the 

 object of devising and adopting measures for the drainage 

 of the North Level ; but the work was of so formidable 

 a character as to deter the commissioners from taking any 

 steps beyond the simplest defensive measures to protect 

 the land already reclaimed. A General Drainage Art 

 was passed some years later, by the advice of Lord 

 Burghley (43rd Elizabeth), which was of so compre- 

 hensive a character that it embraced the drainage of all 

 the marshes and drowned lands in England. But com- 



