be about three miles and this I would make fifty foot wide without Banks this is to help old Owse to take off a sudden flood which otherwise will hang long upon Water-beach Swaffam Fens the Phillips Stretham and other Grounds adjacent being the shelves and stops in the River Owse are taken away Croyland had alwayes Navigation into Norfolk Suffolk and Cambridgeshire and all other parts of this great Level and from thence to Boston Lynne and unto the City of York which is now obstructed I mention this place by reason I know it is very easie to make from this Town good Navigation to Stampford to the great benefit of that Town and Countrey likewise to Boston Lynne and other parts the Honourable Earle of Bedford is no small loser for want of this Navigation through this Town of Croyland into the River Welland and his Tenants at great charges to cart their Corn and other commodities to the River Welland and elsewhere to the dammage of the Earle and his Tenants I do verily believe Five hundred pounds per annum But I shall say no more to this but I know the want of Navigation makes many Towns poor and the having of it makes many Towns and Countreys rich and the making of this Navigation good is performed at a small and inconsiderable charge and without any danger of drowning of Thorney Grounds as some have alledged but will prove beneneficial to all that part of the Countrey in a dry Summer And as for Sheir-Drain I have no intentions of sleighting it it is good to convey fresh waters into the Countrey and of great use and benefit unto Holland It may now be conjectured what my Design is for the perfect Draining this great Level and lest I should be mistaken I will farther express my self It is to cause our Waters and Floods to run low and quick in our two great Rivers of Owse and new Morton's Leam for if once these two great Rivers be brought to run low the Fens cannot be drowned nor can any other River or Rivelet in our Fens run high Likewise as for the Dimentions of these new Works I have named and what water way I would make both in the new Rivers and through our new Sleuces I shall give you particularly and in the close of this Design I shall give you my Reasons and shew you the Benefit the King Kingdom Undertakers and the Countrey will receive by this my Design and way of Draining And likewise give you my Answers to divers Objections that are or may be made either out of peevishness or ignorance self-ends or malice whereby to obstruct the carrying on so Honourable a work as the perfect Draining this great Level The River through Marsland from the Horseshooe at Wisbidge to German-Bridge or near Magdelen in Norfolk will be in length about eight miles I make this River six foot deep to a perfect sole quite through likewise I make it eighty foot wide yet inclining wider toward the new Sleuce to help the Draught of this River I leave Foreland to this Bank to the River-ward twelve foot the seat of this bearing Bank shall be five and forty foot I leave Forelands of this my bearing Bank to the Land-ward eight foot the two In-drains I make both of them eighteen foot wide and six foot deep by which means I gain good firm Earth out of the River and the two In-drains to make my bearing Bank twelve foot high from the superfices of the Soyl and ten foot broad on the top of the Bank which being flagged to the River-ward must needs grow well As for the Slaker through Murrow-gate I held it alwayes very necessary by reason the River of Wisbidge was and is so full of short Angles and every shoulder of those short Angles checks our Freshes running to the Sea and that small neck of that River at Guyheirne too hard to be found by such a sea of Freshes between those Banks to Whittlesey that the waters grope the way to finde that small quill to creep out at wherefore I make from Guyheirne to Murrow-plash which is two miles one single Bank which is on the South-side of that Bank that now is to Murrow-plash to stand with it equal in height and that old River to be bottomed six foot to raise that Bank to the Plash and to have there a convenient Sluce with sufficient water-way into our Slaker in Murrow-gate this River or Slaker from Murrow-plash to the Horseshooe is about four miles and an half I make this River fifty foot wide and six foot deep to a perfect sole throughout I leave Foreland to each Bank to the River-ward ten foot the seats of those Banks to be forty foot each the Foreland from the Seat of the Bank to the Land-ward ten foot each the two In-drains fifteen foot each and six foot deep This is all sollid good Earth as Marsland and will raise the Banks to stand at eight foot high from the superfices and ten foot broad at the top There will be no haste of this work till the Banks above be sunk to about five foot high and till then the North-side of Wisbidge hath no good Drain These two Rivers leads us to the new Sluce at German-Bridge or near Magdelen in Norfolk and I conceive most are at a stand in their Judgements as believing this not easily to be performed yet tacitely do allow that if this can be effected to be a durable work the Countrey then must needs be Drained Yet for better satisfaction of those which doubt it will not be unnecessary to take the judgements of able and honest Artists and good work-men so to understand their sense of the feasability of this work viz. This Large Sluce and Navigable Soss and to give me leave to inform them what I have known and seen in the like Works The soyl and foundation whereupon this large Sluce and Soss is to be placed is very good being a firm and sollid clay or galt which is not to be found for that purpose elsewhere and our materials are most of them by us as Brick at Ely and Saltors Load at Ely and Reach Lime plenty and cheap enough good seasoned Oak Planks and Timber in Norfolk and Suffolk and good Deal Timber at Lynne and Iron as good and as cheap as elsewhere and there is nothing wanting except Tarras of which we must use in this Work good plenty and this is to be had at Dort or Roterdam much cheaper then here at Peterborough and Ely rough Stone for our Foundation and Fillings Now I have brought you to the Materials with which you are to make this Sluce and Navigable Soss now follows the Dimentions of them both The Sluce I divide into four and twenty Arches each Arch containing seven foot in wideness for the water-way the sole of these Arches shall lie level with the sole of Great Owse at
good Brick Stone Lime and Tarras outwardly which I do affirm is thrice the strength of any Bank in Marsland And further to support this Sluce which in my judgement needs none I keep the water eight foot high constantly to Land-ward to maintain Navigation so that I can have but the weight of ten foot water upon my Sluce in the greatest Tide Now as to the stopping of the Eager which is no more then the flux of the Tide from Sea which comes in quick I shall onely say this That if the Tide be once stopped in any River whatsoever by Sluce or Dam it hath no more force for when the Current of the Tide is so stopped it riseth against that Sluce or Dam insensibly and those Sluces or Dams bears no more but onely the weight of water that riseth upon them Tenthly It is objected that if the Tide have not his Flux and Re-flux up Owse it may be feared that Lynne River may be lost Where Sluces with In-draughts are placed to any Out-fall near the Sea they alwayes make good the Channel or Out-fall without them as well as deepen the Channels of those Rivers within them now the flux of the Tide is but a small distance from this Sluce and the re-flux the same which continual motion of the Tides ebbing and flowing in so short a distance it cannot fi lt up that River especially when there is so great a Fresh within our In-draught in those two great Rivers that leads all our Freshes and Floods to that Sluce and follows the tail of the Tide to Sea which must in all reason grinde the Channel to Sea to a great depth below Lynne and as it is now uncertain and dangerous this will improve it to the admittance of greater Vessels then formerly to the great benefit of that Port. And if the way that I have Designed to Drain this Great-Level should prove any wayes injurious to this Town of Lynne I would soon desist from prosecuting it any further but I hope by this they understand a benefit and no dammage to that Town If I divert Wisbidge River from running through the Washes or salt Marsh then all those Washes will become good Ground but then that part of Holland from the Sheir-Drain to the River Welland with the North-side of Wisbidge will be lost by reason they will lose the Out-fall of Sheir-Drain Sutton-Goat Fleet-Goat Quapload-Goat and Weston-Goat which are their Drains into the Washes To this I answer to Drain one part and Drown another is no part of my Design but what I endeavour is to perfect and Drain that part of Holland with the North-side of Wisbidge and yet Drain the great Washes containing near fifty thousand Acres of the Kings and Queens Waste without prejudice to any Land-holder in that part of Holland or North-side of Wisbidge but to their great benefit For it will be confessed that the Town and High Lands of Tid St. Mary's Sutton Gidney Holbeach Quapload Molton to Spalding lies higher by six foot then the low Grounds on the North-side of Wisbidge and Holland and all these High Lands before named lies betwixt the Sea and these Low Grounds so that Cubbet Spalding Drove-Chappel Gidney St. James and Fleet are forced to Drain themselves by small Cuts through this Ascent betwixt the Sea and them in some place three four five or six miles and many of them seven and nine foot deep yet for all this great depth of those Drains a great quantity of those Low Grounds are drowned commonly two foot although you are at great charge with the spade to keep your Goats and Sluces open into the salt Marsh or Washes and yet cannot Drain your selves the reason is plain for it is well known to the ancient Inhabitants that the Sea of late years hath lodged its silt and sand some feet above your Sluces or Goats to Sea and in short time the loss of much good Land may be feared yet to help you I do endeavour but to hurt you or any part of the Countrey is no part of my Design Now to free you from these inconveniences the turning of Wisbidge River through Marsland near to Germans-Bride will be of much advantage and benefit to those low Grounds for by the help of the Sluce at Germans we keep Wisbidge River when we please as low as we will and this River of Wisbidge will prove the Out-fall for all those low Grounds of Holland and the North-side of Wisbide and perfectly Drain them Winter and Summer My reason is this Those low Grounds in Holland lies higher then those low Grounds on the North-side of Wisbidge and those waters in Wisbidge River will lie lower by six foot then the superficies of those Lands or drowned Grounds on the North-side of Wisbidge so that at all times by the help of a Navigable River through that part of Holland from Cubbit upon Welland to Grammoke-house upon Sheir-Drain and from thence to Murrow-gate and so to Leverington into the River of Wisbidge where you have so great a fall that it absolutely Drains all those drowned Grounds aforesaid and the best and most certain Out-fall for Sheir-Drain when Clowes-Cross will give leave to the great benefit of Thorney Burrough great Fen and the Town of Croyland This work will not onely be of use to the perfect Draining of all those Grounds but likewise better Navigation from Lynne Wisbidge and Peterborough to Spalding to Boston to Croyland to Deeping and to Stampford by the help of a small single Soss placed upon Welland River near Cubbit This I have now said may be performed at an inconsiderable Charge considering the Profit it brings with it with the consent and allowance from the Honourable Corporation of which there is no doubt but they will be very willing to serve the Countrey upon so Publique an Accompt being of so great Advantage to those parts and little or no dammage to themselves Thus having to the best of my judgement Answered the aforesaid Objections and do confess my obligation to him or them that did make them by which means Reason will finde the better allowance and truth appear with more Iustre I shall now trouble the Reader with some few Objections of my own against that Design last intended to be put in practrice which were made according to the Order of the Honourable Corporation and shall as willingly receive satisfaction from him or them which are the present Directors as I am desirous my Judgement in this Affair may receive their Approbation According to an Order of this Corporation the 17 th of November 1664. I do here with submission to the said Corporation humbly tender these my Objections following against that Design now in agitation WHereas it is designed by this last new Design that all Rivers shall be left open to the Sea for the Tide to have his free passage into all those great Rivers First To this I object that if
withstand a reasonable Flood To and through this great Level runneth certain Rivers and Rivilets I exclude the River Welland as not to meddle with it in this Design and those which I call Rivers which we have to deal withall are new Nean alias Morton's Leame Bedford River and great Owse The River Nean is very considerable it runs out of Northamptonshire and brings many Rivers and Rivilets which fall into it and with reason we may believe Northamptonshire to be the highest County in all England there being no River which runs into it but many which run out of it East West North and South Bedford River is equal with Nean and brings with it all those Rivers and Brooks out of Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire Old Owse I call it a considerable River for those of Grant Milnall Brandon and Stoke makes Owse before it meet with Bedford River at Saltors Load a great and considerable River As for South Ea Peakirk Drain Bevils Leam Whittlesey Dike Swards Delft Elm Leam March River Ox-willow Load Sandy Dike Downham Load Dr. Williams Load Reach Load Fordhorm Load and Samms Cut with many other small Creeks which are no way prejudicial to our Work but much to our benefit and ease and will be much for our use As for the several Descents in this Level you shall finde them thus from the height of Burrough Fens and Thorney Fens and from Bull Dike and Catt water the descent lies to the lowest part of Thorney Fens by Clows Cross and Murrow Plash All those Fens and Grounds from Stanground Whittlesey Mare Ug Mare and Ramsey Mare Kings Delft West Fen all those Grounds or Fens of Ramsey Pedley Doddington Chatris and March all those Grounds lye descending to the River of March and the West Water All those Grounds and Fens which lye East of the West Water to the North Bank of Bedford River have their Descent inclining to Well River and Welney to the Po Dike All those Fens and Grounds lying South-East of Bedford River have still their descent Eastward to Littleport and to Priest-houses and so into great Owse Yet though it be true as it is that all those Lands and Fens from Morton's Leam to the River Owse have their Descent still Eastward yet is as true it is not above half a foot in a mile and that is no considerable Draught to convey our downfall to our two Rivers of great Owse and Morton's Leam which upon necessity must drain the Countrey but if Morton's Leam and great Owse cannot be brought to run so low as to gain a Draught into them we cannot be perfectly drained but this without all doubt may be effected Those Fens and Grounds which lye on the East side of great Owse in Norfolk and Suffolk with Sohame Fens Swaffam Fens Ditton Burwell Fens Isesam Milnall Whelps Moor and the Fens of Feltwell have their Descent West to the River Owse but is little or nothing Yet there is no doubt but to gain these Rivers two foot fall into the River Owse and that Sohame Meer shall never come within four foot of its former height in ordinary Floods For besides the Sock and down-fall into this Level we have three considerable Rivers which runs through it into the Sea Morton's Leame whose way is through Wisbidge and so into the Washes and Bedford River and great Owse which joyn together at Saltors Load and run intire to Lynne and fall into the Sea below the Washes There hath been great industry and much money expended in making of great and vaste Banks to keep those Rivers within their Bounds and to carry our Freshes to run at that height as to ride the Tydes and this hath been the Design of all the Undertakers since Lyn Law was first made but if ever they had found the Descent which they hoped for the Tyde their greatest enemy could not then have possibly prevailed to flow into the very Center of this great Level every twelve hours though the late made new Rivers do run high by reason of the imbanking and the flux of the Tyde One other enemy though not so dangerous to this great Level is the want of Freshes in the Summer to water the Grounds and Cattle and to scour the Out-falls And the other enemy is the fuzzy light Moor to make Banks withal which moorish Earth hath deceived all the worthy Undertakers from the beginning and therefore is not to be trusted any more Neither is it without reason that those three I last named are such obstacles to the perfecting of this great work of Draining this Level For if we consider the Floods which fall down into this Great Level intending for the Sea which for want of descent cannot run quick and the Tyde every twelve hours meets our Freshes and beats them back the Tyde by reason of his great ascent at Sea flowes quick into the very bowels of our Fens so far as above Welney upon Bedford River which is no less then eight and twenty miles from the Sea And likewise it flowes above Guy-heirne in Morton's Leame into the midst of our Fens and it must be confessed the Tyde flowes into us three hours and an half and we allow four hours for the same quantity of water to ebb back again so that at the most we have but four hours and an half in twelve hours to run out our Freshes which drown us Thus the Floods increase in our Rivers between the Banks and riseth and lieth on them at a great height and as I have said these moory Banks will deceive all that trust in them It is confessed that the moor Earth is tuff so long as it lies wet but is good no longer then till it is rotten and that it will be if it lie dry four or five Summers and then it sinks and becomes a light black mould and if it chance that a Flood lie upon it but three or four dayes it soaks in the water and becomes sobbed and is neither Earth nor water and then it leaves you when you have most need of it and drowns the Fens more then if there were no Banks at all The third enemy is the want of Freshes in the Summer which doth not onely make the Countrey and the Cattle miserable but the Out-falls will be destroyed for want of water to scour them in dry Summers Nor would I have the late dripping Summers be an encouragement that the Out-falls are so good that there is no cause to fear them may they alwayes continue good I wish but if the Out-falls once fail it will be a greater inconvenience then the breaking of a Bank onely my fear hereof is just enough In a dry Summer you have none or very few Freshes either by the River Morton's Leame or great Owse and ye are sure to be visited with the Tyde every twelve hours and then I may tell
by reason of the many shelves of sand upon that Coast so that the ordinary strength of that small River coming from Bergue is not able to carry out of that Haven what the Sea lodgeth in it but then Reason and Industry doth the work of that Haven thus When the Haven is silted up to such a height the Town causes the River aforesaid to be kept up by their Sluce or Soss for some eight or ten dayes together then they command the Ships and other Vessels in that Haven to ride in the midst of it as close to each other as they can and being thus placed they at a Level water open their Sluces and Sosses and give liberty to the pinned up waters from Bergue to run through the Haven so that it grindes the bottom through the Intervals between the Ships that it carries away all the silt and sand out of the Haven whilst the ships rock too and fro as if they would fall one upon another and by this means the Haven becomes as deep again It is much the same with Delfts Haven in Hollaud and that small River which comes from Overkey to the Town and Haven doth the like effect with that of Dunkirk otherwise there could be no Haven but by reason the Sluces which cast their In-draughts into both these Haven stand at the very entrance of them otherwise they could not grinde and effect so great a work Now look back to our selves which have been so much mistaken as to make Receptacles of In-draughts within Land so remote from the Out-falls and you may be assured that if the Receptacle or In-draught made at Waldersey had taken that effect as was supposed to have received from a Spring Tide from Sea six foot water yet it could not have done you any good by reason it lay so far from the Out-fall but certain it is that if it had proved that that In-draught had but gained from the Sea four five or six foot water the Banks had been gone long e're this and Wildersay and Coldham had been both lost or little worth I shall give you no farther trouble but to assure you of my readiness to answer any other Objections which may be made against this my Design or way of Draining to the best of my knowledge and judgement Now give me leave to give you my sense of the great benefit which will arise to his Sacred Majesty the Honourable Corporation the Countrey and the whole Kingdom His Majesties Subjects in this Level who were formerly very poor by reason of the uncertainty of the Banks and their Ground lying dry but being once perfectly Drained will grow rich and populous to the strengthning of the King and Kingdom It will better Navigation and Trade to all his Towns in this part of the Kingdom It secures His Majesties Land being ten thousand Acres lying in this Level from all farther charge or fear of being drowned by any Flood either in Winter or Summer His Majesty gains hereby fifty thousand Acres of good Land called now the Washes or Salt Marshes this Land is equal to those Lands in Marsland or Holland for goodness the one lies on the East and the other on the West-side of these Washes or Salt Marshes which is all the Kings Waste and I do affirm that those Washes contain more Land then lies in Marsland it self and more those Washes lies much higher then doth Marsland or the North-side of Wisbide yet through this Wash doth Wisbidge River Sheir-Drain and Spalding River make their way to the Sea But when Wisbidge River Sheir-Drain with Spalding River are forced to a better Out-fall as Wisbidge to great Owse and Spalding River and Glean secured to the great benefit of North and South Holland then must those spacious Washes suddenly become good Land for this reason viz. for these Rivers by force of winter Floods do scour and cleanse these Washes and will not suffer the silt or sand to bed upon them but these Rivers being taken away which run through and spread themselves upon these Washes every low water doth carry away to Sea what the Tide hath left behinde but the Cause being taken away the Effect ceaseth and all those Washes will become good Land at little or no considerable charge and yet the Navigation of His Majesties Towns of Lynne Boston and Wisbidge much bettered and prove great Out-falls and Navigable Channels to the North Sea Yet let me tell you that though the Freshes work this effect to cleanse and scour the Washes yet the Washes grow and get height upon them and though formerly Wisbidge was the best Out-fall in this Great Level and took much of our waters into it which now run by Lyn by reason of late years the Sea hath left us and the Washes have gained a great height and in my judgement it is impossible ever to gain any good Out-fall through those Washes either for the River of Wisbidge Sheir-Drain or Spalding River As for the Noble and Honorable Adventurers I shall say little onely assure them that this Design and way of Draining this Great Level being perfected the Great Level will be perfectly Drained whereby the great charge of maintaining two or three hundred miles in Banking already made will be taken off which being of no farther use will be of no farther charge neither are they freed from this charge alone but from the charge of many of their Sluces and Sosses as that of VVell-creek and that upon Owse at Saltors Load and those works at Ely which will become as useless as the two or three hundred miles of Banking And in fine it may be believed that Six pence the Acre per annum will maintain the Charge of upholding the Works and procure a Stock if the beforementioned works be once sufficiently effected for there will be no need of repairing of Banks any more The benefit which will arise to the Inhabitants of this Countrey will be very considerable in being freed from all danger of being drowned any more that they may freely plow and sowe build and plant and then there will be no fear of the want of water in the Summer for themselves or Cattle and which will be very considerable is the Navigation to almost every small Town in this Level especially if their Inter-Commons be divided which will be a great benefit both to the Lords and the Tenants but in all these Navigable Cuts avoid Banks and then these Cuts and Division Dikes may be done at a small charge having a care to carry your leading Drains into their proper Out-falls of Bedford River Great Owse and Morton's Leam I shall not deviat from my present Discourse if I tell you that by my Observations abroad both in my youth and age I gained some Experience to serve my native Countrey and that one Province of Holland I compute to be equally as large as this Great Level and
I do verily believe that there is one hundred times more money expended in this Province in Rivers Sluces Sosses and Bridges then can be needful in this Great Level of the Fens The Provinces of South and North Holland Freizland and Gronning admit of no Tides or Rivers from the Sea to run into them onely South Holland admits of the river Maze to run to meet the river Rhyne yet this Holland runs her water into the river Maze by substantial Sluces and Navigable Sosses as I have seen at Mazelandt Ulerdine Skeydam Delfts-haven and at Roterdam all these play into the river Maze which runs by the Brill to Dort On the North-side of this Province is Harlem Mare by Sluces and Sosses at Amsterdam there are many at Myden Nardam all these run into the Zuyder Sea and yet those Sluces and those upon the river Maze have not one quarter of the ebb to run at North Holland upon the Zuyder Sea hath its Sluces to run at Sardam Monkenden Horn Ancusen and Middle-bleak and they have not above a quarter Ebb to run at though they force their waters into those leading Rivers by costly Mills and in this North Holland much of their richest Grounds where they make their best Cheese lie under the low water mark at Sea at least six or seven foot as the Bempster the Skermer and the Wart c. they are all Drained by a multitude of Mills each Mill costs near six hundred pounds Sterling In the Skermer I have seen four Mills one standing four foot higher then the other and they have worked one to another till they have brought the water sixteen foot high to run into the Drains which leads to the Sea Freizland and Gronning from Campen in Gilderland to Dam in Gronning is all drained by Sosses and Sluces to Sea-ward the length of those three Provinces is no less then an hundred and twenty miles along the Sea Coast and yet they have no Rivers run into them from the Sea I did observe in all those parts of the Netherlands where I have been they do not admit the Sea to flow into any of their Provinces but keep it out by their Sluces and Sosses so far as Art and Cost will promise them security These Works of theirs will confirm all rational persons that if they have but one quarter of the Ebb to run at and lie dry what can be said against a Sluce and Navigable Soss at German-bridge upon old Owse and new Nean which hath half the Ebb but in a Flood more because the Freshes do rise one foot within the Sluce for two foot the Tide riseth against the Sluce without to Sea-ward I hope the experience we all have of Holland the North-side of Wisbidge with that of Marsland all of them lie below the Fens of the Great Level five or six foot yet drain themselves into great Owse and the Sea Neither are the benefits inconsiderable which Holland the North-side of Wisbidge and Marsland will receive by this Design As for Hollaud all that Bank called South Ea Bank from Dowesdale to Clowes-Cross being eight miles which was believed formerly to have been a thousand pounds per annum charge will be secured The North-side of Wisbidge will by this means save the repairing of that Bank from Clowes-Cross to Guyheirn and part of the Bank upon Wisbidge River which formerly cost much money but the greater benefit this North-side of Wisbidge will receive is the perfect Draining of all that flat and low Countrey for which they of the North-side of Wisbidge and Tid St. Mary's in the County of Lincoln did contract for the giving a great proportion of Land for the Draining thereof Now as for Marsland their benefit will be the greatest for this work being done they save the charge of repairing all those Banks from Germans-bride upwards on both sides of the River Owse to Saltors Load which is eight miles and all those Banks called new and old Po Dike which by their confession cost them yearly 1600l And withal they recover hereby the great Common belonging to the seven Towns in Marsland and the Common also called the Smee for which a great quantity of Land was offered to those which should undertake the Draining of it as I have been informed And another considerable benefit is they will constantly have fresh water out of the River from Wisbidge to German-bridge and the Bank lying upon the West of Marsland upon the Washes near fifteen miles in length it costs much money and many times in danger of breaking is hereby secured the Washes or salt Marshes being gained from the Sea which will be effected in a short time If this Work be performed it is at the pleasure of the Corporation to Drain the great Common in Marsland belonging to the seven Towns containing five thousand Acres with the Common called the Smee containing about fifteen hundred Acres likewise the Draining of the North-side of VVisbidge containing twelve thousand Acres also all those Grounds in Holland belonging to Gedney Drove Chapple Holbidge Fleet St. James Tid St. Mary's which is reported to me to contain eight thousand Acres of Drowned Land And if the Corporation please they may Drain all that part of the Queens Mannor in Croyland called Posant which will be rich Ground if once Drained and contains in it seven thousand Acres six whereof belongs to the Queen William Dodson FINIS Answers to the several Objections against this my Designe since the Delivery of it to the Honourable Corporation FIrst it is objected that the place that I intend to set the great Sluce upon which is near Magdalen is a Quick-sand To this I answer that the place I have designed to set the great Sluce upon is no Quick-sand but a firm and sollid Clay as the place where Magdalen Bridge stands or the Sluce at Saltors Load or Well-Creek and this is at an easie charge made appear to them that doubt by sinking the place twelve foot where they will finde what I have asserted in my Design to be truth Secondly It is objected that the River is deep there and that it is not possible to set a Sluce in the River It was never intended to set this Sluce and Soss in the River for that were great folly to undertake but this Sluce is set near the River of Owse and so cut into the River and although the River were as deep again as it is it is all one for I set not the sole of the Sluce two foot below the Channel as it is pretended but I set it two foot below the sole of the River or low water mark and therefore the depth of the River is no prejudice to me by being so deep but contrary a great advantage and of much benefit to carry away the Freshes Thirdly It is objected that if a Sluce should be set there that
1649. at their Meeting there that those Banks made so high by me then would not stand above four or five foot high twenty years after their making and I did promise them then that my Design being finished the Floods should never charge those Banks above two foot and it must have been so if this Design of mine had gone on and been perfected neither was it possible that this two foot of a Flood should have lain out of the River three neaps of a Tide if the Sluce at German-Bridge be suffered to run Many wise men are of opinion that the Banks being Repaired every Year the Draining may be perfected Wise men may think so and the Countrey men which get all the money for Repairing every Year will tell them so till the Charge exceed the Profit but if they look upon Deeping Fen drained with moory Banks by Captain LOVEL and continued a small time rich Ground till the moory Banks were rotted to a mould then the Banks failed though there was no cost spared by the Right Honourable the Earle of Exeter to repair or maintain them yet it is now and hath been these twenty years under water and nothing to be had from it but a little Fish yet this Fen doth contain thirty thousand Acres of good Land if drained Look upon Bishop Morton's works the Lord Popham's works Governour Peyton's works the Honourable Francis Earle of Bedfords works all these Honourable persons were wise men and undoubtedly did act by a great scale of Prudence in their Undertakings yet could not make their moory Banks any longer durable then till the moor became mould These Presidents are all within our Level and in the memory of this our age But if you run our freshes so low in Winter what shall we do for water for our selves and Cattle in Summer Whilst you have water at Deeping-Bridge at Peterborough-Bridge Saint Ives-Bridge Cambridge-Bridge and at the Bridges of Milnall Brandon and Stoke undoubtedly our Level cannot want water for under these Bridges come all those waters which drown us and under these Bridges shall come those waters for us and our Cattle Yet take notice that the great Sluce at German-Bridge or near Madelen is able to hold up the waters with little helps as high as you please then it will be confessed to be an absolute Draining when we can Drown and Drain at our pleasure But how shall those Fens in Norfolk Suffolk and Cambridgeshire which lie on the East-side of Owse be drained for they lie the lowest of all the Fens in this Great Level If great Owse run low then all these Fens you name will lie dry for still your great Sluce drains all your waters out of Owse and Morton's Leam if you please but then Navigation will be hindered which is to be helped by bottoming of those Rivers where there may be occasion neither is the bottoming of a River so chargeable as banking Wisbidge River may run where it doth as well as at German-Bridge to go through Marsland the Ground will cost dear and that money may be saved To answer this I have much to say first Wisbidge Out-fall lies high upon the Washes and then it is too near our Fens to check our Freshes my drift is to keep the Sea at a greater distance that I may have our Freshes at all times both night and day to run quick under the Bridges of Wisbidge and Downham without the least check Again the River at German-Bridge lies lower then the River at Wisbidge-Bridge and there is more fall from Wisbidge-Bridge to German-Bridge at low water then at the fall from Peterborough-Bridge to Wisbidge and our Out-fall at Lynne is below the Washes and this River of Wisbidge joyned with the River Owse at the Sluce makes a gallant In-draught and will gain Lynne a compleat Channel to Sea to the great benefit of that fine Town and the Town of Wisbidge As for the charge of the Ground through Marsland I may justly answer good and great things are not done without cost but the cost of this will not be much by reason we may carry much of the River through the Common viz. the great Common belonging to the seven Towns in Marsland and the Common called the Smee and Drain them both which the Marsland men will thank you for The River of Wisbidge is as it is now widened sufficient to carry in it all those waters which fall from Peterborough and therefore you may spare your pains and cost at Murrow-gate Wisbidge River is wider then it was especially at the Out-fall which doth and will destroy us but it is not the depth nor the width of the River that will drain that Level it is the descent and quick current that must do our work But this River is so full of small Angles to shoulder up our Freshes yet I will say it will serve till the moory Banks in the Fen be sunk But it is good to be sure in this great Work for if this River should prove defective to receive and carry away a great Flood it is not onely the loss of having our Grounds drowned but may be the ruine of many good mans Estate to the value of ten times the charge of making the Slaker through Murrow-gate to the Horseshooe beside the benefit of this River and the In-drains to drain all the North-side of Wisbidge which is many thousand Acres of good Land The Tide being stopped at German-Bridge or near Magdelan will rise higher and run over our Banks and drown us in Marsland This Objection is easily waved the Tide hath its bounds and cannot rise higher then its center at Sea and though it be stopped at German-Bridge it shall not rise higher by the thickness of one hair as if it never had been stopped at all But your great Sluce and Soss at German-bridge or near Maddelen will be quickly silted up and what will become of the Fens then It is impossible it should being no silt comes near it nor any salt water for which I give this reason viz. The Freshes at low water have got the Channel at Lynne there the Tide comes in and beats the Freshes back the fresh and salt water unwilling to mix the Tide beats back those Freshes to its own height that so two miles below the Sluce at Germans it will not be brackish I hope the River of Thames at Blackwall and London-bridge will give you an experiment and if no salt water at the new Sluce and Soss it must be confessed no silt and sand We have great Frosts some years and then upon a sudden thaw the Ice comes down and will choak your Sluce and Soss Sosses and Sluces are the means to prevent the danger of the Ice in a sudden thaw It is confessed many Bridges by the force and weight of the Ice have been beaten down but the use of Sluces prevents
that danger thus In great and long Frosts we can have no Floods and if our Rivers are frozen over to make it impassable for Boats then are our Sluces to run by this means I sink the Water and the Ice with them as low as I can then by our Sluces I hold up our waters and this water riseth one foot or two above the Ice which is frozen fast to the bottom of our Rivers after a night or two lying there and although they be not dissolved yet they are so rotten brittle and short and cannot hurt either Bridge or Sluce this I have made experience of by Sluces and can prove it and this is practised in Holland Freezeland and Gronning Our Division Dikes and all our Dikes in our Fens though they be made twelve foot wide and six foot deep they keep their width yet in our dry years the bottoms rise two foot and our Dikes become shallower and they are no good fences Observation and experience will teach you that the bottom of your Dikes grow not up nor rise as you say but it is your Ground lying dry the Moor Earth groweth sollid to a good and fruitful soyl and it is not your Dikes bottoms which rise but your Grounds which sink and become much better therefore when your Grounds are thus sunk with lying dry bottom then your Dikes two foot and your Dikes will hold good for many years It is perceivable by your Design for the Draining of this great Level that in a flood we shall have no Navigation upwards from your new Sluce up Bedford River up Owse to Cambridge or up your new River to Wisbidge and Peterborough by reason the waters will run so quick that we cannot hale with our Horses against the stream but our three Rivers will become like the river Rhyne for swiftness in a flood It is granted the Rivers in a flood will run quick by reason they have water-way and fall sufficient at the great Sluce but this force of a flood will not last for above a day or two it may be longer and it may be not so long therefore you must stay while the flood be past neither are these Rivers so much your enemies as constantly to oppose you as the river Rhyne doth All which work against a constant stream must have patience and so must you yet the motions of these great Vessels down the river Rhyne are quick and so will yours be in a flood which lasts not long neither will they be common with us for the Comparison will not hold between the river Rhyne and any of our Rivers in our Level If this Design of yours be perfected we may then lay all our Boats aside as having no use for them for Owse Bedford River Morton's Leam and the new River through Marsland will draw in all our Land waters It is confessed that Morton's Leam and Owse will run low by reason that at German-bridge at low water mark the River will be lower then the height of the Level soyl at Saltors Load by twelve foot and much more and so likewise it will stand with Guyheirne and there shall be no need of raising the Banks from thence to Bevis-hall for there is Bank enough and the River will run lower then the Soyl or Superficies of Wisbidge high Fen for Wisbidge River will quickly grinde it self to its old bottom and keep it and it is feizable and necessary to bring part of Owse from Erith unto Wisbidge by the West-water through the Town of March and the other branch by Chatris Doddington and Wimbleton-hook without the hazzard of drowning any part of the Level and will water all the parts of the middle Level even to Maney the two Wells and to Saltors Load and will prove good for Navigation to the Undertakers and the Countrey which have quantities of Grounds lying upon this West-water and if the Divisions of the Intercommons be laid out there will be a necessity that this Work of the West-water be made good This you will say will afford you water-way for your Boats No ye are deceived for without the use of means at our Out-falls into Bedford River Owse and Morton's Leam to hold up your In-drains you will still have no waters for your Boats and this will cost money which to do I compare it to Paper and Packthred in comparison of the rich Commodity bound up in it We have now two gallant In-draughts as Bedford River and Morton's Leam for our Floods to bed in as Receptacles and after the Flood is spent those run and scour the Out-falls and maintain them I know not what you mean by an In-draught but if you believe either of those Rivers to be your In-draughts in which your Waters now bed whose Banks are at such a wide distance and at so great a distance from your Out-fall as near twenty or thirty miles it is a Riddle to me and beyond my understanding and in my judgement against all the rules of Draining for in all Draining we have respect to our Out-fall for if we cannot be master there all other endeavours signifie nothing You may as well call Whittlesey Mare Ramsey Mare Soham Mare In-draughts and the Dutch may better call Harlem Mare an In-draught for none of those I have named are In-draughts for there can be no In-draught but it must be close to the Out-fall otherwise it works no effect You have an example in Holland and in all the Low Countreys their In-draughts are at their Sluces close to the neck of their Out-falls neither is there any Haven River or Creek lying upon foul Seas that hath not sufficient Freshes to maintain its Out-fall but he must by Art gain an In-draught which In-draught must be at hand to use when there is occasion for it for all true In-draughts are to be held up and are to be made use of at the last quarter Ebb or before and so it works its effect but when the In-draught is about a mile or two above its Out-fall it is so weak upon its stream by that time it comes to its Out-fall that it cannot work any effect to the cleansing of either Haven River or Creek I shall onely instance in two Havens or Harbors though I could trouble you with many the one is Dunkirk in Flanders the other is Delfts Haven in Holland As for that of Dunkirk I have seen it when upon the Wharf they have been forced to use a Ladder to go up into a Ship of an hundred Tun at low water the next day they have been forced to use the same Ladder down from of the Wharf into the same Ship this might seem strange but it was strange to me to see by what a small means this Effect was wrought which was thus viz. In all dry Summers the Haven is very subject to be silted up by the Sea bearing its foul waters into it
Cut cannot be performed at six foot deep at the River called the Horseshooe as I have Designed it and they give this reason for it That if I make my River there six foot deep the height of the Tide will not reach the sole of that River to be cut through Marsland I shall not need to answer this Objection it being altogether without reason or sense but referre you to my Answer to the fourth Objection which will give any one full satisfaction Seventhly It is objected that the Charge of a Sluce the Purchase of the Grounds through Marsland and the rest of the works Designed by me will cost 200000l To this I answer That certainly they that made so large an Estimate upon those works I have Designed know how to set a price upon their own for it is well known the Estimate I gave in to the Honourable Corporation with my Design did not amount to above 46000l for I had rather and it was my resolution to ask more or at least as much as would do the work having so short a warning then ask less and the Corporation should finde it more thereby to induce the Corporation to make use of my Design but upon further consideration and having better digested the charge I have since for the better satisfaction of this Honourable Corporation made a Moddel of part of the great Sluce and the Soss proportionable to shew the true Dimention of the same which Sluce and Soss will be undertaken at a price by able and sufficient Work-men And that such mistakes as these may not affright the Corporation from going on with so Beneficial a work I have here annexed to my Designe the Estimate of all my works as they are and will be undertaken and shall be ready when this Honourable Corporation please to make every particular of this Accompt appear Eighthly It is objected that this Sluce is to master a quick water which is not believed it is proper for the reason is they have not known the like practised elsewhere As to this I hope to give full satisfaction by several Reasons and Examples of other Countreys in the like case as also some known to our selves within the Isle I shall instance in the first place Freizland which is a larger Countrey then this Level by much here all Winter their Grounds lies very deep in water frozen over with Ice and Snow this they thus suffer to keep their Ground warm and by this means preserves the roots of their Grass from perishing by the Frost and in February or March when the weather breaketh they then run all these waters out into the Sea by their Sluces which runs quick and violently for one moneth and more together more quick then ever it will run at the great Sluce neither have they any way to avoid their great and quick waters but by Sluces Secondly It is the like with North Holland and South Holland by the multitude of Mills working all the latter part of Winter which causeth a very quick River to their Sluces at Sea and I doubt not but these all may be termed quick waters Thirdly If we look at home we shall finde that we had a gallant Sluce upon the River of Wisbidge which was of great use until it was overcharged by the River of Welland which was contrary to the intentions of the then Adventurers for there was no waters intended to that Sluce but what run under Peterborough Bridge from Burrough Fen and Thorney and the water-way was made accordingly in that Sluce and that Sluce was useful and convenient in that place and might have been to this day Fourthly Come to the Soss at Well-Creek which is still standing and hath to the great benefit of the Countrey these thirty years preserved Navigation and wrought that River to a great depth and keeps it This may be justly called a quick water upon ever Land flood or Down-fall Fifthly Look upon the Sluce upon old Bedford River at Saltors Load which is still standing and for many years preserved the Out-fall of that River until our Troubles began in England and then the people stole away the Flood-gates so that the Out-fall of that River was suddenly silted up and this Sluce stood upon a considerable quick River Sixthly Come to the open Soss and several Sluces at Saltors Load which was set down some fourteen years since upon this great Quick butting upon the Tide from sea and although it was made of wood which cannot be durable against the sea neither was it set in its proper place yet it is clear it did much preserve that part of the Level and also maintained Navigation whilst it was kept in repair Now give me leave to give you my Reasons that a Sluce upon a Quick water is as useful with as little danger as a Sluce upon a Dead water as it is termed it is confessed that a Sluce upon a Quick that hath not water-way sufficient is little better then a Dam to obstruct the Current of those Rivers in a Flood and is destructive but if there be water-way sufficient and to spare in the greatest Flood then this Sluce or Soss preserves that Countrey from all sudden and quick Floods without danger And for the prevention of all sudden Floods it must be granted that no Flood falls into this Level but by great Rains or sudden Thaws in the Upland Countreys of which we cannot but be sensible some dayes before it come down in which interim of time we pull up all our Fall-gates and run out all our Freshes that are holden up by the Sluce to maintain Navigation so that when the Floods come down the Rivers are empty if clear of weeds to receive them and if I run twice the water of those Bridges where the Floods must come under certainly I may wait three hours in twelve upon the re-flux of the Tide and yet not so much if the Flood be great for as the Tide riseth two foot without us the Freshes in a Flood rise one within the Sluce by which means we run the sooner for our Freshes run whether the Tide be coming in or going out until the Tide rise higher then our Freshes and shuts the Flood-gates These Examples and Reasons I hope may be sufficient and give full satisfaction to them that doubt of the truth I have asserted in my Design for unless in my judgement we can master the Tide it is not possible to Drain this Level Ninthly It is objected that the Sluce I have designed will not bear the weight of water that will lie against it and that the Eager will carry away the Sluce To this I answer that the Sluce I have Designed is in the Foundation two and fifty foot broad the bredth of the Sluce upwards is forty foot and besides this bredth between every Arch a Butterice raised from the foundation on both sides the Sluce of three foot square all of
the flux of the Tide from Sea be admitted to flow up old Owse Bedford River and Morton's Leam that the Banks that are made and to be made in Order to this Design cannot secure the Level from Inundation or Drowning My Reasons are as followeth First The Tide flowing up the River of Owse and Wisbidge hath been the destruction of all those Undertakings for the Draining of the Great Level the reason is plain the Spring Tides at Germans rise twenty foot from low water mark and at Wisbidge it riseth fourteen foot at least above low water mark running to Sea now the ascent of the Tide from Sea flowing so high within our Level obstructs the Freshes in their Current to Sea and not onely that but bears our Freshes back as I am credibly informed that the Freshes have been seen to run back through Sutton-Bridge towards Erith which is near thirty miles from Germans the same it is with Morton's Leam up to Eldernel therefore the flux of the Tide is not to be admitted into any of our Rivers Secondly If the Rivers be open to Sea every Spring Tide if the windes blow hard at North or North-west all the Level is in danger of drowning as for example the last Winter when you had little or no Land Floods the Spring Tides putting in with a strong North winde put Morton's Leam in great danger and as for Bedford River it raised the waters so high that it carried away a considerable part of one of the best Banks to the great dammage of the Corporation and Countrey Thirdly If the three Rivers be left open and admit of the Tide to flow up them then Peterborough and those parts adjacent must suffer and so must Erith Swacy and Over in that part of the Countrey neither can Haddenham Swaftham Water-beach Stretham or Wilberton be freed from the said inconvenience for it must be confessed at all hands that Morton's Leam lies much higher then Bedford River and Bedford River lies much higher then old Owse and likewise it will be allowed that the Tide will flow equally up these two Rivers of Owse and Bedford River for water will finde his level now certainly it was very indiscreetly done of him whosoever he was that did give direction for a Bank of six foot to be made upon Owse and Grant against the Tide Owse being the lowest River in the whole Level when they make Banks of ten and twelve foot upon Bedford River and Morton's Leam which lies higher then this River by much And as for those Banks designed to be made upon Mildenhall Brandon and Stoak with those from Stretham-Ferry up to Aldry Causey they will not be able to secure that Countrey for as it is with Bedford River at Erith Swacy and Over the same it will be with Stretham Wilberton Haddenham and that part of the Countrey yea rather much worse by reason the River lies so low it will give the greater reception to the Tide for when the Tide did flow up Owse formerly I have seen the water rise a foot at Stretham-Ferry in a Spring Tide and now the River being widened from Saltors Load to Littleport you will finde it will flow into those parts with a more Eager then formerly to the destruction of that Level Fourthly If Owse and Bedford River be open to Sea for the Tide to have his flux and re-flux then will all Marsland be put in a hazzard of utter ruine they being now at a vast charge to keep their Banks from the fury of the Eageâ— by lineing their Banks with Brink wood which is caused but by the admittance of the Tide into one River but when it shall have its free ingress and regress into those two spacious Rivers of Owse and Bedford River it will double the strength of the Eager in his flux from the Sea having so great a reception above And farther in a Frost when the Ice shall come down those two great Rivers expecting to go to Sea the Tide sends it back again so that of necessity it will gore their Banks and hazzard their Bridges the like it will be with the Banks of Owse Bedford River and Morton's Leam And whereas it is supposed nay believed that the flowing of the Tide up Owse will ease Bedford River that the waters shall not rise so high there as they use to do it is a great mistake for the Sea is as well able to furnish the whole Level with a conflux of waters as those two Rivers and there is no doubt but the Tide will rise as high in both Rivers as ever it did in new Bedford River but if his water-way be not wide enough in Owse at present he will run so much the stronger and in a short time he will make his way having so great a reception as is now allowed him though to the great prejudice of Marsland Whereas it is likewise Designed that a new Cut be made from Rassels Dam to Littleport Chair and the old River Dammed up near Rassels Dam. To this I object That if you make this new River from Rassels Dam to Littleport Chair and dam out Owse and suffer the Tide to flow up which must of necessity when Saltors Load Sluce is taken up you hazzard the loss both of the new Cut and old River for the making of this new Cut is no more then what was done by the Right Honourable Francis Earle of Bedford and his participants in Lynne Law and was called Sandys River yet they did never attempt to dam up Owse this River was made then in a direct line to Littleport Chair and they then admitting the Tide to flow up Owse it was in four or five years silted up and utterly lost although they had four times more Freshes to maintain it then this Designed River is like to have And as to old Owse if you admit a Dam upon that then the Tide will without all question silt up that River having little or no Freshes admitted to run through it to scowr the silt away so that consequently you must lose both the new Cut and the old Rieer Whereas it is Designed that for the maintaining of Navigation the Weeds in the Rivers are not to be cut or roded in dry Summers that the waters may not run out of the Countrey but hold up your Freshes To this I object That if you keep not your Rivers and Leading Drains to them-well roded twice in a Summer you hazzard your Meadows and other good Grounds to a sudden flood from the Land-water for the Weeds hold up the Freshes more then Sluces and these Weeds admitted decayes those Rivers and Drains they are suffered to grow in and destroyes Navigation Whereas a multitude of Banks Weer-Dikes Cuts In-drains Counter-Banks Sluces and Tunnels are Designed for the Draining of this great and flat Level to the vast expence and charge of the Corporation To this I object That the number of the