158 



Drainage hy Steam Power. 



this period he adopted the grazing system, and states that, " of 

 all stock, horses have been found to answer best on the natural 

 coarse grass and weeds, on the softest lands ;" alluding, no doubt, 

 to the softest portion of this Mere. 



In the year 1809 Mr. Eccleston died, leaving the great work 

 to be completed. 



In 1813, it is reported, the sea-gates were again carried away. 

 After this, it appears, four cast-iron pipes or cylinders — three of 

 3 feet diameter, and one of 3 feet 3 inches, with self-acting doors 

 to each of their ends next the sea, were fixed alongside of each 

 other at the entrance to the sluice and under the bridge near to 

 Crossens. These cylinders remain to the present day, but are 

 obviously insufficient to allow the speedy escape of the fresh waters, 

 particularly during winter, and the consequence is, that that por- 

 tion of the Mere which depends upon this " natural " drainage 

 alone, is submerged for weeks together. When I last visited the 

 spot on the 21st of February, 1852, after four or five days of fair 

 Aveather, some hundreds, if not thousands, of acres were then 

 flooded, and had been so for several weeks. I happened to be 

 at the cylinders at the time of high-water (i past 12), and the 

 height of the tide on that day, as indicated by a Liverpool tide- 

 table, was 16 feet 11 inches. The height above the bottom of the 

 cylinders at the end next the sea, where the doors, which close 

 with the tide, are fixed, was 8 feet 8 inches. The height of the 

 water in the sluice at the other end of the cylinders was 4 feet 

 6 inches ; so that, supposing the cylinders to be laid horizontal, 

 and the datum, from which the figures are given on the face of 

 the stone-work above them, to be the same, there was here a 

 difference in the two levels of 4 feet 2 inches ; consequently no 

 water could drain off from the Mere until the tide had ebbed to 

 at least 4 feet 2 inches below high-water. As the tides vary from 

 between 10 and 11 to 22 feet in height, and are subject to further 

 increase by westerly winds, there will be a certain length of time 

 at every tide (excepting a few of the very lovjest), when drainage 

 hy these natural means is im'possihle. This points to the necessity 

 of having an increased number of cylinders or other outlets which 

 will allow the fresh imters to pass off rapidly during the 'period 

 that the sea is helow the level of the cylinders. Some such plan is, 

 I presume, contemplated by Mr. Scarisbrick, as three new sluices, 

 quite parallel and close to each other, and of different widths, are 

 now being made at some distance to the west of the former sluice, 

 and which apparently are to empty themselves into the sea, about 

 100 or 150 yards from the present cylinders. 



Plan of Operation. — I now come to the more immediate subject 

 of this Report — the drainage of 1100 aci^es of Sir Thomas Hes- 

 hetKs portion of Martin Mere, by artificial means. The whole of 



