CHAP. \. EMBANKMENT OF BliADJNG HAVKX. 133 



CHAPTEK V. 



SIR HUGH MYDDELTON'S EMBANKMENT OF BRADING HAVEN. 



No sooner had the New River Company been formed 

 and its operations organized, than we find Sir Hugh 

 Myddelton engaged in the new and bold enterprise of 

 enclosing a large tract of drowned land from the sea. 

 The scene of his operations on this occasion was the 

 <; tst crn extremity of the Isle of Wight, at a place now 

 H inrked on the maps as Brading Harbour. This harbour 

 or haven consists of a tract of about eight hundred acres 

 in extent. 1 At low water it lies a wide mud flat, through 

 the middle of which a small stream, called the Yar, 

 winds its way from near the village of Brading, at the 

 lie; id of the haven, to the sea at its eastern extremity; 2 

 whilst at high tide it forms a beautiful and apparently 

 inland lake, embayed between hills of moderate elevation 

 covered with trees, in many places down to the water's 

 edge. At its seaward margin Bembridge Point stretches 

 out as if to meet the promontory on the opposite shore, 

 where stands the old tower of St. Helen's Church, now 

 used as a sea-mark ; and, as seen from most points, the 

 bay seems to be completely land-locked. 



The reclamation of so large a tract of land, appa- 

 rently so conveniently situated for the purpose, had long 

 been matter of speculation. It is not improbable that 

 ;it some early period neither swamp nor lake existed 

 at Brading Haven, but a green and fertile valley; for 



1 The extent of land reclaimed by 

 Myddelton at Brading Haven lias, 

 with the inaccuracy that characterises 



acres. Sir Richard Worsley, in his 



* History of the Isle of Wignt>' 



the whole area of the haven as only 



almost everything heretofore published S.~t; neivs. 



relating to 'him, luvn stated at 2000 - See the eimraving at p. 84, 



