The North Forty Foot Drain towards Chapel Hill, Holland Fen, Lincolnshire.
In 1720, the Earl Fitzwilliam, having tried to get the Court of Sewers to drain his land west of the River Witham and north-west of Boston in the Lincolnshire fens, decided to do it himself. He cut the North Forty Foot Drain south of the river to by-pass the worst of the river's meanders, the drain emptying into the river through a sluice at Boston. The North Forty Foot wasn't a great success and was criticised on the grounds that it was taking water from the river and thereby reducing scour, though it is still today the main drain for Holland Fen. But it was a precursor of the River Witham Scheme which began in 1762 and deepened and straightened the river, thereby improving drainage of surrounding fens and also navigation.
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Photo credit: © John Worrall / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: 18th, boston, century, drain, drainage, earl, fen, fenland, fens, fitzwilliam, flat, flatness, foot, forty, landscape, lincolnshire, management, north, river, uk, water, winter, witham
