Situation of the town—its distance from the sea, &c.—its harbour—river Ouse and its tributary streams.
Lynn is situated on the eastern side of Marshland, and of the Great Level, or Fen Country, about 12 miles from the Sea, 42 from Norwich, 46 from Cambridge, and 98 from London. [1] It stands partly on each side of the Ouse, but chiefly on its eastern banks; though it is supposed to have stood originally all on the opposite shore, and hence that part of it is still called Old Lynn.
The Haven or Harbour is capacious, but the entrance to it is accounted somewhat difficult, and even dangerous, owing to the numerous sandbanks, and the frequent shiftings of the channel, occasioned by the loose and light nature of the sandy and silty soil at the bottom. On which account it is not deemed safe for ships to go in or out without pilots, who are, or ought always to be well acquainted with the variations and actual state of the channel. In the ages proceeding the 13th century this harbour, compared with its present width, is said to have been very narrow, being only a few perches over, though its depth of water was then, probably, no less, if not greater than it is at present.
The Ouse over against the town, is reckoned about as wide as the Thames above London Bridge. Its name is evidently of British origin, [2] and corresponds with those of several others of our rivers; such as the Usk, Esk, Ex, Isis, &c. The word signifies, a stream, or the river, by way of eminence. It is called the great Ouse, to distinguish it from that called the little or lesser Ouse, which is now one of its tributary streams, and joins it some way below Ely, though it had formerly no connection with it. It is also called the eastern Ouse, to distinguish it from the northern, or Yorkshire river of the same name.
As Lynn owes most of its consequence to this river, which forms its communication with the sea, and gives it so great an extent of inland navigation, and consequently such a vast commercial intercourse with the interior parts of the country, it will not be improper here to give some account of it, together with its principal branches, or those tributary streams which render it so considerable among the British navigable rivers.
Kinderley, many years ago, has given the following account of this river and its several branches: “The Ouse (says he) formerly Usa or Isa, which is the most famous of all the rivers that pass through this Level, has its original head on a gentle rising ground full of springs, under Sisam in Northamptonshire, 54 miles from Erith bridge, at which place it first touches the Isle of Ely. It falls by Brackley, Buckingham, Newport Pagnel, Bedford, Huntingdon, and St. Ives, to Erith, and so on till it comes to Lynn. It has 5 rivers emptying themselves into it, beside many brooks and rills; Grant, Mildenhall, Brandon, Stoke, and the river Lenne, or Sandringham Ea [otherwise Nare,] which rises under Lycham, and comes by Castleacre, Narford, and Sechy.” [He omits the Nene, which surely he ought to have mentioned.] Afterward he adds, “That the Ouse by its situation, and having so many navigable rivers falling into it from eight several counties, does therefore afford a great advantage to trade and commerce, since hereby two cities, and several great towns are therein served; as Peterborough, Ely, Stamford, Bedford, St. Ives, Huntingdon, St. Neots, Northampton, Cambridge, Bury St. Edmunds, Thetford, &c. with all sorts of heavy commodities from Lynn, as Coals, Salt, Deals, Fir-timber, Iron, Pitch, Tar, and Wine, thither imported; and from these parts great quantities of Wheat, Rye, Coleseed, Barley, &c. are brought down these rivers, whereby a great foreign and inland trade is carried on, and the breed of seamen is increased. The Port of Lynn supplies six counties wholly, and three in part.”
But of the Ouse and the other Lynn rivers, no one, perhaps, has given so full and so good an account as Mr. Skrine, in his general account of the British rivers.
“The Ouse (he says,) traverses a very considerable part of the Midland counties of England, rising in two branches, not far from Brackley and Towcester on the borders of Northamptonshire and Oxfordshire, from whence its course is eastward, a little inclined to the north, through Buckinghamshire, joined at Newport Pagnel by a small stream from Ivinghoe in the south; to reach Bedford it descends by many windings toward the south, and then joined by the Hyee from Woburn, and the Ivel from Biggleswade, it pursues its original direction to Huntingdon, where a combination of streams from the south-west contributes to its increase. From thence it passes nearly eastward through the centre of the Fens of Cambridgeshire, where it receives the Cam near Ely from the south-west, and afterwards the lesser Ouse from Woolpit and Ixworth in the south-east, joined by the Larke from Bury St. Edmunds; it then inclines more and more to the north, till it falls into the great Gulph of the sea between the projecting coasts of Norfolk and Lincolnshire, beneath the walls of Lynn Regis.
“The Ouse is generally a stagnant stream, neither giving nor receiving much beauty in all the great tract through which it passes. Its course is uniformly dull and unimportant to Buckingham; nor is it at all an object from the princely territory of Stowe, which abounds in grand scenes and buildings.”
This river “does not improve much,” (he further observes) “as it traverses the plain counties of Bedford and Huntingdon, though it adds some consequence to their capitals, being there navigable; at St. Ives it sinks into those great marshes which abound on this part of the eastern coast, through Norfolk, Huntingdonshire, Cambridgeshire, Northamptonshire and Lincolnshire.
“The Hyee which meets it a little below Bedford, passes near the Duke of Bedford’s noble domain at Woburn Abbey, and the Ivel flows northward to it through a dull uninteresting tract of country.
“The Cam is composed of two branches, one of which rises on the borders of Bedfordshire, and unites with the other, which bears the classic name of Granta, flowing from the confines of Essex, through the highly ornamented grounds of Audley End. They unite near Cambridge, and then run nearly eastward till the Ouse receives them, a little way from Ely.
“The Cam receives no small portion of beauty from the academical shades of Cambridge, being crossed by bridges from most of the principal Colleges, whose gardens join the public walks on its banks, which are finely planted and laid out. The stream itself is but stagnant and muddy, yet it adds something to the peculiar traits of the landscape, with the several stone bridges; nor do the fronts of the colleges, as they appear in succession, intermixed with thick groves, any where shew themselves to such advantage. The Area in front of Clare Hall, and the new building of King’s College, with its superb chapel, matchless in that species of Gothic Architecture which has been called “the improved,” exhibit one of the most striking displays in England. Soon afterward the Cam sinks into the Fens, where the proud pile and towers of Ely Cathedral appear finely elevated over the level, just above the junction of the Cam and the Ouse.
“A dreary tract of Marsh accompanies these united rivers to Downham in Norfolk; nor does the country much improve afterwards, but the channel becomes very considerable, and the exit of these rivers is splendid, where the flourishing port and great trade of Lynn present a croud of vessels.”
To the above account by Skrine, which is but imperfect, other rivers might be added, which join the Ouse in the latter part of its progress, and which ought not to be left here unnoticed; as the Nene, from Peterborough, Whittlesea, and March; the Wissey or Winson, from Stoke, and the Lenne or Nare, from Narborough and Sechhithe. The former, a large branch of which joins the Ouse at Salter’s Lode, is a Northamptonshire river, and rises near Catesby, under Anby Hill, in that county, and making Northampton in its way, passes from thence to Wellingborough, and along by Higham Ferrers, Thrapston, Oundle, Walmsford or Wandesford, Castor, Peterborough, Whittlesea, March, and on to Salter’s Lode and Lynn. The Wissey or Winson rises in the neighbourhood of Necton and Bradenham, in Norfolk, and running by Pickingham, Cressingham, Ikborough, Northwould, Stoke, and Helgay, enters the Ouse some way above Downham. The Lenne or Nare, otherwise Sandringham Ea, is also a Norfolk river, which after running by Litcham, Lexham, Castleacre, Westacre, Narford, Narborough, Pentney, and Sechhithe enters the Ouse at the South or upper end of the town of Lynn. It is a narrow, but in some places a deep and rapid river, and navigable a good way into the country; but has no very beautiful or striking sceneries any where upon or near its banks. [7] Like all the rivers of this low, flat, and dull country, it presents nothing that can be called striking or very remarkable, unless it be, a perpetual succession, or uniformity of dullness.