Modern Drainage Problems 201 



The result is that Denver Shiice can now take the full discharge from the 

 South Level without any loss of head. 



The outlet from the Waslalands between the two Bedford Rivers is by 

 means of Welmore Lake Sluice.' This was rebuilt in 1930, and subsequent 

 observations, taken during flood conditions, have shown the advisability 

 of increasing by 50 per cent the discharge capacity at this point, by the 

 installation of a third sluicegate 24 ft. wide, which it is hoped will be 

 constructed next year. 



THE TIDAL RIVER SECTION 



The so-called tidal river section (i.e. the estuary below Denver Sluice) has 

 been the subject of much controversy and of many reports during past 

 centuries. The Eau Brink Cut of 1821 and the Marsh Cut of 1852 were 

 especially successful because they shortened the length of the river. ^ Much 

 benefit also resulted from the activities of the Norfolk Estuary Co., which 

 was compelled by an Act of Parliament to carry training walls through 

 Vinegar Middle Shoal (in the estuary) before it commenced reclamation. 

 The walls were completed in 1857, by which time the company had spent 

 ;^250,ooo on the improvement of the estuary. The Norfolk Estuary 

 Co. was intended originally to recover land from the Wash. Fig. 53 shows 

 the result of its activity and of similar effort in Lincolnshire during the 

 nineteenth century. 



After a series of flood years during the nineteenth century, Mr W. H. 

 Wheeler was consulted by the Denver Sluice Commissioners; and his 

 report, issued in 1883, recommended that the river should be widened 

 from Denver Sluice down as far as the Eau Brink Cut. The Eau Brink 

 and Marsh Cuts were, apparently, in very good condition at that time. 

 There were comparatively low-water levels under normal conditions, but 

 the river was not wide enough to deal with flood waters — hence the 

 necessity for the report. Had Mr Wheeler's scheme been carried out at 

 the time, the result should have been very satisfactory, but unfortunately 

 the banks and channels of the Wash were changing, and, in consequence, 

 the estuary conditions have become steadily worse. 



Comparison between Fig. 54 and Fig. 55 will show the change in the 

 channels of the Wash between 1871 and 1936. The tide on the eastern side 

 of the Wash follows a circulatory movement in an anti-clockwise direction 

 and the channels follow this tidal flow. Thus, the water flowed in by the 

 Lynn Channel and, following this circulatory motion, discharged by the 

 Bulldog Channel. The channels were then well defined. At some later 



' See footnote 4, p. 182 above. ' See p. 191 above. 



