562 PROFESSOR NEWTON ON THE GREAT FLOOD OF 1852-3 
Such a flood indeed had not been known for some forty years, 
when the state of the Fen-country was very different from that of 
1852, and it had been confidently expected that the recurrence of 
such a disaster to the agriculturists of the district had, from the 
recent improvements in the drainage, been rendered impossible. 
The extensive sheet of water formed in the way I have mentioned 
soon became the resort of a vast multitude of wild-fowl, which 
thronged thither in numbers so as to remind old fen-men, as they 
have told my brother Edward and myself, of the days of their 
youth. 
It was extremely characteristic of our excellent old friend, the 
late Edward Clough Newcome, who for prudence and foresight in 
regard to all kinds of field-sport surpassed any one I have ever 
known, that no sooner did news of the first bursting of the river- 
hank reach him (and this I think was within twenty-four hours of 
the event) than he knew what the effect would he, and wrote at 
once to a boat builder at Lynn for a new punt, and to a gun-maker 
at Birmingham for a new swivel-gun, each, I need scarcely say, to 
be of the best kind made. This I am bound to mention thus early, 
for had it not been for Mr. Newcome’s love of sport, and his 
giving us opportunities of accompanying him in some of his 
almost daily excursions — pursued as they were in all sorts of 
weather — my brother and I should never have witnessed the 
wonderful and interesting sights which the Flood afforded, and we 
should have remained in ignorance of much that it will be always 
a pleasure to remember. As it was, we were able to realise many 
of the scenes of which we had heard, or were hearing, for I ought 
here to state that we then made the acquaintance of William and 
Daniel Spencer, both of Feltwell, whose great-grandfather and 
grandfather had been gamekeepers to the Clough family, and being 
themselves thatchers by trade, had from boyhood thoroughly 
known the Fen-country.* It was our habit to write down at 
night what we had heard during the day from men who had such 
information to give, though we never let them know we were 
* In 1852-3, Sedge ( Cladium mariscus ) was still procurable in some 
quantities, and its admirable properties for thatch were still appreciated. It 
made the relations of the thatclier to the Fen-country very close — much 
closer than would now appear to be likely. Reeds were not very abundant, 
and therefore not greatly used, in the district. 
