44 DRAINAGE OF HATF1ELD CHASE PART I. 



whole of the reclaimed lands in the manor of Hatfield, 

 amounting to about 24,500 acres, agreeing to pay 

 the Crown the sum of 16,080/., an annual rent of 

 193/. 3s. 5Jd., one red rose ancient rent, and an im- 

 proved rent of 42 5/. from Christmas, 1630. 1 Power was 

 also granted him to erect one or more chapels wherein 

 the Dutch and Flemish settlers might worship in their 

 own language; 2 and they then settled down peacefully 

 to cultivate the soil which their labours had won. 

 They built houses, farmsteads, and windmills; and even 

 now the Dutch look of the villages, and the Dutch 

 character of many of the inhabitants in the district, ;nv 

 still observable. 



It was long, however, before the hostility and jealousv 

 of the native population could be appeased. The idea 

 of foreigners settling . as colonists upon lands over 

 which, though waste and swamp, their forefathers had 

 enjoyed rights of common, was especially distasteful to 

 them, and bred bitterness in many hearts. All over 

 the Fen district the dispossessed fenmen were almost in 

 a state of revolt, and they had numerous sympathisers 

 among the rest of the population. Thus, on one occa- 

 sion, we find the Privy Council sending down a warrant 

 to all postmasters to furnish Sir Cornelius Vermuyden 

 with horses and a guide to enable him to ride post from 

 London to Boston, and from thence to Hatfield. 3 But 

 at Royston " Edward Whitehead, the constable, in the 

 absence of the postmaster, refused to provide horses, and 

 on being told he should answer for his neglect, replied, 

 ' Tush ! do your worst : you shall have none of my 

 horses in spite of your teeth.' ' Complaints were made 

 to the Council as to the injury done to the surrounding 

 districts by the drainage works ; and an inquisition was 



' State Papers,' vol. cxlvii. 21. vol. clxvi. 56. 



" 'State Papers,' vol. cxxiii. 26. 4 Affidavit of (ion-c Johnson, ser- 



\V ; i rrant of Council, dated \Yhitr- vanl of Sir Cornelius Ycrnmyden. 

 hall, May 12th, 1630.' State Papers/ ' State Papers; vol. elxx. 17. 



