300 



Farming of LincohisMre. 



from the VVelland outfall works : and if they should fail in obtain- 

 ing a natural fall, still the lowering of the head of water will 

 greatly lessen the expenses of working the engines. 



The Black-Sluice Drainage comprises all the lands which 

 empty their drain water by means of the South Forty-foot Drain 

 into the Witham Haven at Boston ; extending 20 miles north- 

 ward from Bourn Eau to Kyme Eau and the river Witham, 

 bounded on the west by the high lands, on the east by the Old 

 Hammond Beck, and including Holland Fen, which stretches 

 between the Witham and Hammond Beck nearly up to Boston. 

 There are about 65,000 acres of taxable lands emptying them- 

 selves into the South Forty-foot, besides many thousand acres 

 which drain by it without paying any tax. Hammond Beck is a 

 very ancient sewer, running nearly parallel with the South Forty- 

 foot, and discharging at the same point of the Witham ; and, in 

 conjunction with Risgate Eau, near Gosberton, and numerous 

 " lodes " flowing in an eastern direction, conducted the upland 

 and fen waters to the Witham and Bicker Haven; the northern 

 portions of the district drained by Heckington Eau and Gill Syke 

 into the Witham at Langrick Sluice, and by the Holland Dyke 

 and the Skerth " into Hammond Beck. In 1638 a drain was 

 cut by the Earl of Linsey, following about the same course as the 

 present South Forty-foot, and these fens were partially drained ; 

 but no permanent improvement took place in the general drain- 

 age until after the formation of the new Witham channel. About 

 the year 1720 the North Forty-foot Drain was excavated in Hol- 

 land Fen, and vast quantities of water were discharged into the 

 Witham, just above Boston, which used to enter through the 

 Langrick Sluice higher up the river ; in consequence of this and 

 similar diversions the river became landed up by the sediment of 

 the tides. The bed of the river was so completely obstructed that 

 there seemed to be no remedy but the cutting of a new channel 

 and erecting a sluice at Boston, and accordingly an Act for these 

 purposes was procured in 1762. The Grand Sluice* was opened 

 in 1766; and the contemporary works comprised the execution 

 of a new cut ''^from the Grand Sluice to Anthony's Gowt, from 

 thence to Langrick Ferry, and from thence to Chapel Hill," a 

 total length of about 10 miles, embanked on both sides. This 

 new canal straightened as well as opened the channel of the river, 

 which had previously pursued a meandering course of more than 

 fourteen bends, of course highly prejudicial to the drainage. 

 From Chapel Hill to Lincoln the Commissioners were to 



* This sluice has four arches, each about 24 feet wide, thus giving a clear waterway 

 of 96 feet : three of these are appropriated to the drainage, the fourth ha> a lock at- 

 tached to it for the convenience of navigation — but it is also used for drainage when 

 necessary. 



