[66] Of this undertaking Elstobb gives the following account—
“That it was entered into by the Earl, at the earnest request and importunities of the country in general, who at a numerous sessions of sewers held at Lynn, January 13, 1630, became humble suitors to him to undertake the business, which he condescended to comply with, and accordingly contracted with the commissioners and the country, and engaged that he would use his best endeavours to drain the said marsh, fenny, waste and surrounded grounds, in such a manner as that they should be fit for meadow, pasture, or arable; and the work to be completed within the compass of six years. To the end the Earl might the more confidently undertake and effect the said work, and be assured of enjoying the 95,000 acres, as the fruit and recompence of his labours and charge; and that the country might be more assured of obtaining a benefit proportionable to the very great quantity of land they were to part with, it was agreed that 12,000 acres, part of the 95,000, should be presented to the king, in lieu of all and every benefit he might claim by a certain law of sewers, made in the 19th year of king James, or by any other law or decree of sewers, and for his royal approbation and confirmation of the contract, &c.”—Having described the work in its commencement and progress, he adds, that having expended about £100,000 these lands were so benefited that, in about seven years time, from the first undertaking, viz. in 1637, at a session of sewers held at Peterborough, October 12, the Level was adjudged to be drained, and the 95,000 acres were, by six or more commissioners set out for the Earl, his heirs and assigns.—But it being soon after discovered that these lands, though benefited, were not perfectly recovered, but in winter were still subject to inundations, the very next year, 1638, at a sessions of sewers held at Huntingdon, April 12, the Earl’s undertaking was adjudged defective. The King then taking the business into his princely consideration, and understanding by an estimate made by Sir C. Vermuiden, that if this Level of near 400,000 acres were made winter-lands, it would be of extraordinary advantage, viz. of about £600,000 to the common wealth, his Majesty determined to become himself the undertaker; and accordingly on July 18, the same year, he was actually declared undertaker; and was to have, not only those 95,000 acres, which had been set out for the Earl of Bedford, but also 57,000 acres more, from the country, it being his Majesty’s design to make the land good winter-ground. The Earl, in consideration of the costs he had been at, was to have 40,000 acres out of the 95,000 before granted him.—The King to manifest his real and earnest purpose of speedily effecting the business, caused the following works to be done: a bank on the south side of Morton’s Leam, and another begun on the north side: a navigable sass at Standground: a new river cut between the stone sluice, at the Horse-Shoe, and the sea below Wisbeach, sixty feet broad, and two miles long, with banks on both sides: also a sluice in the marshes below Tydd, upon the outfall of the Shire Drain. But the King being embroiled in a civil war, the Level lay neglected; and the country complaining that they had received no benefit by the draining, they entered upon the 93,000 acres again, which had been taken from them.”
Elstobb’s Observations, p. 9 to 12.
[69] Estobb, speaking of the above act, says, that the Governor, Bailiffs, and Conservators were made Commissioners of Seven, for preservation of the Level, by convenient outfalls to the sea; and they or any five of them, whereof the governor or any of the bailiffs be two, to act as commissioners of sewers within the said great level, and of the works made, or to be made without the said level for conveying the waters by convenient outfalls to the sea. No other commissioners to meddle. A governor or bailiff to have 400 acres out of the said 95,000; the conservater 200; and the commonalty electors 100 acres, to enable them to vote. Elstobb’s Observations, p. 14.
[70] See Beauties of England, vol. 2.
[71] This fund was at first usefully applied, and the channel and navigation of the Nene considerably improved. The interest of the money borrowed on the occasion, was also for some years regularly and punctually paid; so that the river Nene securities, as they were called, were generally reckoned very good. Of late years, however, the state of things has greatly altered for the worse: the river has been neglected, and suffered to be filled up with silt and mud; the navigation impeded; the interest of the money borrowed between fifteen and twenty years in arrears, and the creditors gravely told, that there is no money in hand for them. Their case therefore seems to be without remedy and without hope; there being, it is to be feared, no prospect of another chance to restore or improve the said river. What is become of the said fund?
[73a] See Agricultural Survey of Cambridgeshire.
[73b] Beauties of England, 2, 18.
[74] See Beauties of England, 2, 18, 19.
[79a] In consequence of the late improvements of the Smeeth and adjacent parts, the reeds are said to have become much more scarce than they used to be.
[79b] The small feathers are plucked five times a year, (about Lady day, Midsummer, Lammas, Michaelmas, and Martinmas,) and the larger feathers and quills twice. Goslings are not spared; for it is thought that early plucking tends to increase their succeeding feathers. Some proprietors are said to have had a stock of a thousand, and even fifteen hundred, or more, beside the young ones.