70 STOPPAGE OF DAGENHAM BREACH PART I. 



embankment of the West Thurrock Marshes, in what is 

 called the Long Keach, nearly opposite Greenhithe ; 

 where the lands remained under water for seven years, 

 and it was with great difficulty the breach could be 

 closed. But at length the tides were shut out, leaving 

 a large lake upon the land in the direction in which 

 the waters had rushed ; and the breach and lake are to 

 be found marked on the maps to this day. 



But the most destructive and obstinate breach of all 

 was that made by the river in the north bank a little 

 to the south of the village of Dagenham, by which 

 the whole of the Dagenham and Havering Levels lay 

 drowned at every tide. It will be remembered that a 

 similar breach had occurred about 1621, which Ver- 

 muyden had succeeded in stopping; and at the same 

 time he embanked or " inned " the whole of Dagenham 

 Creek, through which the little rivulet flowing past 

 the village of that name found its way to the Thames. 

 Across the mouth of this rivulet Yermuyden had erected 

 a sluice, of the nature of a " clow," being a strong gate 

 suspended by hinges, which opened to admit of the 

 egress of the inland waters at low tide, and closed 

 against the entrance of the Thames when the tide rose. 

 It happened, however, that a heavy inland flood, and 

 an unusually high spring tide, occurred simultaneously 

 during the prevalence of a strong north-easterly wind, 

 in the year 1707 ; when the united force of the waters 

 meeting from both directions blew up the sluice, the 

 repairs of which had been neglected, and in a very short 

 time nearly the whole area of the above Levels was 

 covered by the waters of the Thames. 



At first the gap was so slight as to have been easily 

 closed, being only from 14 to 16 feet broad. But having 

 been neglected, the tide ran in and out of the opening for 

 years, and every tide wore the channel deeper, and made 

 the stoppage of the breach more difficult. At length 

 the channel was upwards of 30 feet deep at low water, 



