56 DRAINAGE OF THE GREAT LEVEL PART I. 



out to sea, whilst the low lying lands were kept clear of 

 surplus water by pumps driven by windmills. There, 

 the main object of the engineer was to build back the 

 river and the ocean ; whereas in the Great Level the 

 problem to be solved was, how to provide a ready out- 

 fall to the sea for the vast body of fresh water falling 

 upon as well as flowing through the Fen districts. 

 This essential point was unhappily overlooked by the 

 early drainers ; and it has thus happened that one of the 

 principal labours of the modern engineers has been to 

 rectify the errors of Yermuyden and his followers ; more 

 especially by providing efficient outlets for the dis- 

 charge of the fen waters, deepening and straightening 

 the rivers, and compressing the streams in their course 

 through the level, so as to produce a more powerful 

 current and scour, down to their point of outfall into 

 the sea. 



This important condition of successful drainage having 

 been overlooked, it may readily be understood how un- 

 satisfactory was the result of the works first carried out 

 in the Bedford Level. In some districts the lands were 

 no doubt improved by the additional receptacles provided 

 for the surplus waters, but the great extent of fen land 

 still lay for the most part wet, waste, and unprofitable. 

 Hence, in 1634, a Commission of Sewers held at Hun- 

 tingdon pronounced the drainage to be defective, and 

 the 400,000 acres of the Great Level to be still subject 

 to inundation, especially in the winter season. The 

 King, Charles I., then resolved himself to undertake the 

 reclamation, with the object of converting the Level, if 

 possible, into " winter grounds." He took so much per- 

 sonal interest in the work that he even designed a town 

 to be called Charleville, which was to be built in the 

 midst of the Level, for the purpose of commemorating 

 the undertaking. Sir Cornelius Yermuyden was again 

 employed to carry out the King's design. He had ma 1 1 y 

 enemies, but he could not be dispensed with ; being tin 



