66 



DHAINAGE OF THE GREAT LEVEL- 



PART I. 



dency of the river outfalls to silt up and fall into decay. 

 At any time neglect was certain to be followed by inun- 

 dation, 1 and the " Bailiff of Bedford " for nearly another 

 century continued to pay the dwellers in the Fens many 

 a rude visit, sometimes in a night sweeping away the 

 polder works of many homesteads. 



In 1713 a violent tide rushed up the Ouse, and, en- 

 countering high floods descending from the uplands, 

 their combined force was such that Denver Sluice 

 was blown up and destroyed. The ebb of the Bedford 

 waters flowed nearly two hours up the Cambridge River, 

 carrying with them additional silt and sand every spring 

 tide. The state of the South Level gradually became 

 much deteriorated, until the year 1748, when the sluice 

 was reconstructed under the direction of Labelye, the 

 Swiss architect who built Westminster Bridge. Yarious 

 engineers were employed at different times during the 

 last century in correcting the defects of the early works, 

 or in carrying out further improvements ; the most pro- 

 minent being Perry, Golborne, and Kinderley. The 

 great scheme of Kinderley, proposed in 1751, was a 

 suggestion of genius. He designed to convey the con- 

 joined waters of the Ouse and the Nene into the centre 

 of the Wash, there to unite with the Welland and the 

 Witham. By this measure the navigation of the Wash 

 would have been greatly improved, and its shifting sands 

 avoided, whilst as much new land would have been 

 drained and reclaimed as almost to have justified the 

 addition of a new county. Every one of his cuts 

 was proposed on the same principle that has governed 

 later improvements that of avoiding broad channels 

 with shifting sand banks, and confining the rivers to 

 narrow channels, in order to secure depth by force and 

 weight of current. But Kinderley' s grand idea was not 



1 The account of a destructive inun- 

 dation is given in a publication en- 

 titled ' A true and impartial Relation 

 of the great damages done by the late 



groat Tempest, and overflowing of tlx 

 Tide ii] ion tlie coast of Lincolnsliin 

 and Norfolk/ &c. 1671. 



