CHAP. 111. Slli CORNELIUS YKK.M r Y1>K\. 37 



The extensive district of A xli< >lnie, of which tlie Level 

 of Hatficld Chase formed only a part, resembled the 

 Great Level of the Fens in many respects, being a large 

 fresh-water bay formed by the confluence of the rivers 

 Don, Went, Ouse, and Trent, which brought clown into 

 the Hinnber almost the entire rainfall of Yorkshire, 

 Derbyshire, Nottingham, and North Lincoln, and into 

 which the sea also washed. The uplands of Yorkshire 

 lion IK led this watery tract on the west, and those of 

 Lincolnshire on the east. Eising up about midway 

 I >et ween them was a single hill, or rather elevated ground, 

 formerly an island, and still known as the Isle of Ax- 

 holme. There was a ferry between Sandtoft and that 

 island in times not very remote, and the farmers of 

 Axliolme were accustomed to attend market at Don- 

 caster in their boats, though the bottom of the sea over 

 which they then rowed is now amongst the most pro- 

 ductive corn-land in England. The waters extended to 

 Hatfield, which lies along the Yorkshire edge of the 

 level on the west ; and it is recorded in the ecclesiastical 

 history of that place that a company of mourners, with 

 the corpse they carried, were once lost when proceeding 

 by boat from Thome to Hatfield. When Leland visited 

 the county in 1607, he went by boat from Thorne to 

 Tudworth, over what at this day is rich ploughed land. 

 The district was marked by numerous merestones, and 

 many fisheries are still traceable in local history as 

 ha ving existed at places now far inland. 



The Isle of Axholme was in former times a strong- 

 hold of the Mowbrays, being unapproachable save by 

 water. In the reign of Henry II., when Lord Mowbray 

 held it against the King, it was taken by the Lincoln- 

 shire men, who attacked it in boats; and, down to the 

 reiv;n of James I., the only green spot which rose above 

 the wide waste of waters was this solitary isle. In early 

 times the whole of the south-eastern part of the county 

 of York, from Conisborough Castle to the sea, belonged 



