202 



Modem Drainage Problems 



period the Teetotal Channel widened and the Daseley Channel broke 

 through, while at the same time, for some cause which is as yet unknown, 

 the inward end of the Bulldog Channel began to silt up. The full implica- 

 tion of these changes is not yet known; further investigation is now 

 proceeding. 



RECLAMATION 

 AROUND THE WASH 



^-<^)0 King's 

 ) 7 Lvnn 



Fig- 53- 



The coastal "marshes" were recovered before the nineteenth century. The inner 

 banks, marked by toothed Unes, represent the limits of still earlier enclosures. 



Further flooding of the Fenland occurred during the period of the Great 

 War, and, at the request of the Lower Ouse Drainage Board, Mr Havelock 

 Case issued a report in 191 7. Mr Case, like Mr Wheeler, recommended 

 the widening of the river from Denver to the sea ; he also advocated the 

 installation of a larger sluice at Denver, which, as noted above, was not 

 carried out until 1923. He also found that the conditions in the Wash were 

 so bad as to require the further construction of training walls. 



The position was again discussed in 191 8, when Mr Preston held an 

 enquiry at King's Lynn. A proposal was put forward for the construction 

 of a barrage instead of training walls, but the enquiry showed that there 

 was not sufficient technical evidence to make a decision. 



In 1925, a Commission of enquiry was set up by the Ministry of Agri- 

 culture, and their technical adviser, Mr Binnie, put forward a scheme for 

 training walls. He beheved that the training walls should be sufficiendy 

 high to carry the river water through to the Hull Sand Beacon, some 



