118 



Lincolnshire Fens, 



Deeping Fen/' containing about 25,000 acres. The first Act passed 

 for the drainage of this fen was in the reign of Charles II., A. d. 1661. 

 This was done by means of windmills, a practice which has there 

 continued until about the last 20 years. In 180]. an Act was 

 procured for draining, dividing, allotting, and inclosing Spalding, 

 Pinchbeck, Deeping, &c., Commons, comprising upwards of 

 13,000 acres, when two new drains were cut, called the " North 

 and South Drove ' ' drains ; but the country still remained in a 

 very wet state, so much so that within the last 40 years boats 

 might in some places be rowed over the land. In 1823 another 

 Act was obtained, and two powerful steam-engines were erected 

 in 1824 and 1825 at Pode's Hole, about 2 miles from Spalding. 

 The benefit of these engines, however, was not realized for some 

 time after their erection, as the drains were insufficient for car- 

 rying the waters to them. The windmills were still kept up on 

 the different farms until 1831, when all the internal drains were 

 deepened about 3 feet, and a new one cut on the west side of the 

 fen. There are nov/ four large drains, having smaller ones 

 uniting with them, all coming to one focus at the engines. There 

 are two engines, one of 80, the other 60 horse-power, both under 

 one roof, capable of lifting 300 tons of water per minute 7 or 8 feet 

 high ; the water is thrown into the Vernatt's drain, which empties 

 itself into the Welland, about 7 miles from thence at the reservoir, 

 below Spalding. The engines drain about 25,000 acres ; namely, 

 10,000 acres called '^Adventurers' Lands," 10,000 commons, and 

 5000 acres called ^' Free Lands" (besides which they have to throw 

 out the great soakage of water from the rivers Welland and Glen), 

 at a cost of about bs. per acre on the former, and 35. per acre on 

 the free farms. There were formerly 44 wind-engines, the com- 

 bined power of which amounted to about 400 horse -power, but 

 there is not a single mill now remaining. It is expected that the 

 improvements in the outfall of the Welland, which are now in 

 progress, will give this fen a complete natural drainage. This, 

 like all the other fen rivers, ''^ falls into the great bay called the 

 Wash, shallow and full of shifting mud-banks, through which at 

 low tide it winds its shifting course into deep water.'' The river 

 is now being carried in a straight channel out to sea in the fol- 

 lowing singular manner: — ^"^Two rows of bush-faggots are laid 

 perhaps 50 yards in advance on the mud, at low water, on each 

 side of the river. After a few tides these faggot heaps are found 

 full of ' warp,' a mixture of fine sand and mud, which renders 

 them in some degree solid ; another tier of faggots is then laid 

 upon the first, and is again embodied with them by the warp." 

 This kind of embankment is continued in a straight line over sand 

 and through water, or across the old bed of the river, the faggots 

 being sunk in the water and bedded in the soft mud by means of 



