468 DRAINAGE OF THE FENS. PART VIII. 



of the Fen districts. He had been jointly concerned with 

 Mr. Rennie in carrying out the important works of the 

 Eau Brink Cut, 1 and at Mr. Rennie' s death he succeeded 

 to much of his practice as consulting engineer. 



It was principally in designing and carrying out the 

 drainage of the North Level that Mr. Telford distin- 

 guished himself in Fen drainage. The North Level 

 includes all that part of the Great Bedford Level situ- 

 ated between Morton's Learn and the river Welland, 

 comprising about 48,000 acres of land. The river Nene, 

 which brings down from the interior the rainfall of 

 almost the entire county of Northampton, flows through 

 nearly the centre of the district. In some places the 

 stream is confined by embankments, in others it flows 

 along artificial cuts, until it enters the great estuary of 

 the Wash, about five miles below Wisbeach. This town 

 is situated on another river which flows through the 

 Level, called the Old Nene. Below the point of junc- 

 tion of these rivers with the Wash, and still more to 

 seaward, was South Holland Sluice, through which the 

 waters of the South Holland Drain entered the estuary. 2 

 At that point a great mass of silt had accumulated, 

 which tended to choke up the mouths of the rivers 

 further inland, rendering their navigation difficult and 

 precarious, and seriously interrupting the drainage of 

 the whole lowland district traversed by both the Old 

 and New Nene. Indeed the sands were accumulating 

 at such a rate, that the outfall of the Wisbeach river 

 threatened to become completely destroyed. 



Such being the state of things, it was determined to 

 take the opinion of some eminent engineer, and Mr. 

 Rennie was employed to survey the district and re- 

 commend a measure for the remedy of these great evils. 

 He performed this service in his usually careful and 

 masterly manner ; but as the method which he proposed, 

 complete though it was, would have seriously iiiter- 



1 See ' Life of Rennie,' p. 168. 2 See map at p. 50, vol. i. 



