112 



The Marsh District. 



nine months in the year ; indeed, it was almost invariably the 

 case, previous to the Eau Brink Cut, that the deep channel for 

 the ebb vi^ater would shift alternately, summer and winter, from 

 one bank of the old broad river to the opposite one. Before the 

 new channel for the river Nene was made, there was a wide and 

 shallow gulf between Marshland and the Lincolnshire coast, 

 through the midst of which the old river pursued its winding and 

 variable course^ greatly obstructed by sand and mud. The new 

 channel was cut along the Lincolnshire side, and an embankment 

 madcj cutting off a great portion of the gulf from the sea, which, 

 with the bridge across the new river, forms a road connecting 

 Marshland with Lincolnshire. About 1300 acres of the salt- 

 marshes and bare sands called the Outmarsh of Walpole, were 

 thus reclaimed^ and are now inclosed and cultivated, having 

 houses and farm buildings erected in different places, and pro- 

 ducing crops of corn. The outmarsh belonging to each parish is 

 stocked with sheep, although liable to be daily overflowed by the 

 tides; the first plant that appears is the marsh samphire, next 

 the '^triticum repens," or sea-wheat," and by degrees grasses 

 rise ; and immediately after embanking, broken as it is by holes 

 and small creeks of water, it is stocked with cattle or put under 

 the plough. Since the 1300 acres were inclosed, in consequence 

 of a further accumulation of sediment outside the embankment, 

 another great work is in progress. Another breadth of the same 

 gulf is being reclaimed by means of a bank from the Marshland 

 coast to the new channel of the Nene. This bank, which will be 

 3:^ miles long, projects at present only part of the distance ; a 

 smaller one, called the Cradge Bank, has been extended across, 

 inclosing about 2500 acres, which is valuable land, having very 

 little light soil or creeks. When the main bank is shut up 

 (which will be in a few years, having been commenced in August, 

 1842), about 1000 acres more will be gained. There are 2000 

 acres more, lying outside this embankment, which will be taken 

 in when considered fit for cultivation. Experience has shown 

 that the ground ought to be covered by nature with samphire or 

 other plants, or with grass, before an attempt is made to embank 

 it; there is particular danger in being too greedy. If the sea 

 has not raised the salt marsh to lis fruitful level, all expectation 

 of benefit is vain, the soil being immature, and not ripened for 

 inclosure ; and if, again, with a view of grasping a great extent 

 of salt-marsh, the bank or sea wall be pushed further outwards 

 than where there is a firm and secure foundation for it to stand 

 upon, the bank will blow up, and in both cases great losses and 

 disappointments will ensue." 



The thickness of warp deposited by the sea varies much ac- 

 cording to the height of the land, some lowland having been 



