CHAP. Y. 



THE LINCOLN FENS. 



163 



base of the high lands skirting the Fens; beginning 

 with a six feet bottom, and widening out towards their 

 embouchures to sixteen feet. The principal work of this 

 kind commenced near Stickney, and was carried east- 

 ward towards Wainfleet, to near the Steepings river. It 

 was connected at Oowbridge with the main Hobhole 

 Drain, into which the high land waters brought down 

 by the catchwater drain were thus carried, without 

 having been allowed, until reaching that point, to mix 

 with the Fen drainage at all. It would be tedious to 

 describe the works more in detail ; and perhaps the out- 

 line we have given, aided by the maps of the district, 

 will enable the reader to understand the leading features 

 of Mr. Rennie's comprehensive design. The works were 

 necessarily of a very formidable character, the extent of 

 the main and arterial drains cut during the seven or 

 eight years they were under execution being upwards 

 of a hundred miles. They often dragged for want of 

 funds, arid encountered considerable opposition in their 

 progress ; though the wisdom of the project was in all 

 respects amply justified by the result. 1 



The drainage of Wildmore and West Fens was first 

 finished, when forty thousand acres of valuable land 

 were completely reclaimed, and in a few years yielded 



1 The following letter, written by 

 a Lincolnshire gentleman, in January, 

 1807, appears in the ' Farmer's Maga- 

 zine ' of February in that year : 

 " Our fine drainage works begin now 

 to show themselves, and in the end 

 will do great credit to Mr. llennie, 

 the engineer, as being the most com- 

 plete drainage that ever was made in 

 Lincolnshire, and perhaps in England. 

 1 have been a commissioner in many 

 drainages, but the proprietors never 

 would suffer us to raise money suffi- 

 cient to dig deep enough through the 

 old enclosures into the sea before; 

 and, notwithstanding the excellency 

 of Mr. Rennie's plan, we have a party 

 of uninformed people, headed by a 



little parson and magistrate, who keep 

 publishing letters in the newspapers 

 to stop the work, and have actually 

 petitioned Sir Joseph Banks, the lord 

 of the manor, against it ; but he an- 

 swered them with a refusal, in a most 

 excellent way. ... I think Mr. Hen- 

 nie's great work will promote another 

 general improvement here, which is, 

 to deepen and enlarge the river 

 Witham from the sea, through Boston 

 and Lincoln, to the Trent, so as to 

 admit of a communication for large 

 vessels, as well as laying the water so 

 much below the surface of the land 

 as to do away with the engines. We 

 have got an estimate, and find the 

 cost may be about 100,000?." 



M 2 



