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First paid to James Locker, for 4012lbs. iron, pryce the lb. 2d. smd.

Item, paid ste. to Mayhake, Ima.

Item, paid pro. two dozen of great maunds
Item, paid pro. two dozen of pannes
Item, paid for five morter troughs
Item, paid for two dozen of little maunds
Item, for two dozen of water scoopes •
Item, two dozen of base

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Item, paid for the carriage of the said stuff

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For defraying the expenditure, a rate was made upon the lands lying in the contiguous wapentakes, according to the allotment of the commissioners. But while the assessment was making, and preparing to be levied, an order of council was issued, "That such as had lands within the said level should advance, by way of prest, the sum of ten pounds; a moyety to be paid immediately, and the other moyety to be surely sent and delivered at the town of Boston, in the following May. And in case that after levying of the scotts, after the usage of the marches, any person's part extended not fully to the sum advanced by way of prest, the remainder was to be repaid." This order was signed at the King's Manor of Greenwich, the 21st day of February, the fifteenth of Henry the Seventh.

By a rate made in the time of Margaret, Countess of Richmond, for the repair of Boston sluice, the first assessment amounted to the sum of 3671. 1s. 91d. on the different town, ships subject to the levy. From another account, written by Dr. Brown, it appears, that much benefit accrued from the work, though it was not done agreeably to the first intention. "Afore: the sluce was made, at a full spring in winter, when the flood and fresh water did meet together at Dockdyke, the salt water and fresh water strove soe together, that the water ran soe over

the

the banks of both sides the haven, that it drowned all the common fen; soe that men might have roome with boates from Garwich to Boston towne: and likewise from Boston to Kirkeby land side. And that the sea bankes and fen bankes were at double more charge, than they be now."

To the north and north-east of the Witham, whose outlet to the sea was intended to be facilitated, and the adjacent lands benefited by the work just mentioned, lies the large fenny tracts called Wildmore Fen, West Fen, and East Fen.

Upon a writ of Ad quod damnum, in the forty-first of Queen Elizabeth, concerning the draining of these, it appears, that in East Fen 5000 acres were drowned, half of which was then considered drainable, and the other half irrecoverably lost; and that the commons and severalties on the borders of the said fen, contained about 3400 acres, the whole of which was surrounded. At a session of sewers held at Boston, the 15th of May, sixth of Charles the First, a recital was made, by virtue of a decree, that the greater part of these lands, whose bounds are stated, were surrounded grounds in the winter season. It was therefore decreed, that the outfall at Wainfleet-haven should be deepened and enlarged, the various gowts cleansed, and all other necessary works done for draining the extent of country taken in the survey. Each acre of land receiving benefit by the said drainage to pay ten shillings. The money to be paid into the hands of Sir An thony Thomas, Knight, and the rest of the undertakers, after the work was completed, or proportionably as it might be done.

At another session of sewers, held the 15th of April, A. D. 1631, a decree was made, "That Sir Anthony Thomas, and his participants, for their expences, should not only have the one half of the said East Fen, and a third of all the severals adjoining thereto; and likewise the fourth part of all the surrounding grounds lying in the West Fen, and the severals thereto adjoining, limited and appointed to them by a former decree, but some farther augmentation in certain other particular places *." Notwithstanding

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* Dugd, Imb. p. 423.

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Notwithstanding the early and continued attention, which, from this historical view, appears to have been devoted to the improvement of this marshy country, the frequent interference of the Legislature, and the immense sums expended in different periods on its drainages, the progress has not been adequate to the exertions made: indeed, often the beneficial effects have been retrograde, and the attainment of the object is still a desideratum, in plans for the amelioration of the soil. This has arisen from various causes :-From want of proper levels having been taken for the drains when they were first made, by which means, through the occasional superfluity of waters from beneath the soil, and the addition of the upland waters in time of floods, the country could only be temporarily or partially drained. The smallness of the gowts and sluices not being sufficiently wide to deliver the superabundant waters to the sea or rivers, they have again been refluent on the adjacent lands. The Commissioners of these sewers, frequently inattentive to the state of the dykes and gowts, and often misled by the ignorance of engineers, or warped by the prejudice and interest of a party, have not always conducted their enquiries, or exerted their powers, for the general benefit. The difference of seasons also makes a wide alteration in the state of the outfalls. If the summer proves particularly dry, the quantity of silt which settles in the mouths of the rivers, or in those Estuaries, called the Washes, is so great, that it requires the floods in winter to continue several weeks to scour it away, and cleanse the openings to the sea. During this time the gates are over-rode, that is, the water is so high as to prevent their use; and the fens become the receptacle of the waters, which arise from beneath, that fall on their surface, or descend from the high lands: and in addition to these, inundations frequently happen from the rivers by the bursting of the defensive banks. Thus the accumulation of water becomes so great that the outlets are not sufficient for its discharge; and the principal part of the spring is gone before it can be all carried off, to the annoyance of the occupier, and to the injury of the pro

prietor.

prietor. Many, however, have been the attempts to remedy these evils, and a spirit of improvement, within these few years past, seems to have pervaded all ranks of people in this extensive county.

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Deeping Fen, which extends most of the eleven miles from that town to Spalding, is a very capital improvement by draining. Twenty years ago the lands sold for about 31. an acre; some was then let at 7s. or 8s. an acre; and a great deal was in such a state, that no body would rent it. Now it is in general worth 20s. an acre, and sells at 201. an acre: 10,000 acres of it are taxable under Commissioners, pay up to 20s. an acre, but so low as 2s. average 4s. including poor rates, and all tithes free. The free land also sells from 151. to 20l. an acre and more, three or four years ago."

Mr. Stone, however, furnishes us with a considerable drawback upon this flattering account, and suggests some useful hints towards a more favourable prospect—" The drainage of Deeping fen, he says, so improperly commended by Mr. Young, is chiefly effected by three wind-engines, above Spalding, that lift the Deeping fen water into the river Welland, the bed of which, I apprehend, is now higher than the land intended to be drained, assisted by a side cut, called the West Load, which falls into the Welland, just below Spalding; and which district, in violent floods, in a calm, when the engines cannot work, is reduced to a most deplorable condition, more especially when the banks of the Welland are overflowed or give way, as happened in 1798, in consequence of an accumulated weight of water, occasioned by violent floods, and the obstructions met with below from the choaking sands+."

An act passed in 1794, for improving the outfall of the river Welland, better draining the low lands of South-Holland, and discharging their waters into the sea. The leading point in this scheme is to cut a deep canal, like the Eau-Bank, from the reservoir

* Young's General View.

+ Review of the Agric. Surv. of Lincoln, p. 142.

servoir below Spalding, capable of receiving the whole waters of the Welland, and conveying them into the Witham below Boston, by a lower and more certain outfall than the present, at Wyburton road.

1 A cut was also proposed to be made from a place, called Peter's Point, to Wheatmeer drain, near the Hamlet at Peakhill. This appears to be part of a scheme suggested by Lord Chief Justice Popham, in the century before the last, and afterwards partially acted upon by Vermuden, Colonel Dodson, and several other engineers, from that period to the present. The lying dormant of such plans for so long a time, portions only having been adopted, and few new ideas started respecting any thing more comprehensive, proves, that while other parts of useful improvements had been going forward towards perfection, the subject of Fen-drainage had for a long season been in a state of slumber; occasionally waked to small intervals of activity, but never roused to effectual energy. The exertions, however, which have, at times, been made, must not pass unnoticed. "In that long reach of fen, which extends from Tattershall to Lincoln, a vast improve ment by imbanking and draining, has been ten years effecting. The first act passed in 1787 or 1788, and through a senseless opposition an extent of a mile in breadth was left out lest the waters should in floods be too much confined, and the other side of the river be overflowed; better ideas, however, having taken place, a new act to take in the river has passed. This is a vast work, which, in the whole, has drained, enclosed, and built, and cultivated between twenty and thirty square miles of country (includ ing the works now undertaking.) Its produce before little, letting for not more than 1s. 6d. an acre; now from 11s. to 17s. an acre. It is subject to the tax of 1s. an acre to the Witham drainage, and not exceeding 1s. 6d. to its own. Land here now sells at 251. an acre.

"In the northern part of the county the drainage of the Ancholme is another great work, extending from Bishop Bridge to the Humber, in a curved line; but by an act passed about thirty

years

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