Editing The Fens (section)

==Draining the Fens==
[[File:"A Map of the Great Levell, representing it as it lay drowned." (1662).jpg|thumb|"A Map of the Great Levell, representing it as it lay drowned." from "The history of imbanking and drayning" by [[William Dugdale]] (1662)]]
[[File:"The Map of the Great Levell drained" (1662).jpg|thumb|"The Map of the Great Levell drained" from "The history of imbanking and drayning" by [[William Dugdale]] (1662)]]
[[File:Fens area of Lincolnshire (Janssonius).jpg|thumb|300px|Southern Lincolnshire from a mid-17th-century atlas by [[Jan Janssonius]], showing unsettled areas within undrained fens]]
<!-- Hide deleted image [[image:Stretham old engine 19.3.05.jpg|right|thumb|300px|The old steam drainage engine near Stretham]]-->

===Early modern attempts to drain the Fens===
{{See also|Twenty, Lincolnshire|Bedford Level Corporation}}
Though some signs of Roman hydraulics survive, and there were also some medieval drainage works, land drainage was begun in earnest during the 1630s by the various investors who had contracts with [[Charles I of England|King Charles I]] to do so.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.greatfen.org.uk/heritage/drained-fens|title=The drained fens|website=Greatfen.org.uk|language=en|access-date=2019-09-20}}</ref> The leader of one of these syndicates was the Earl of Bedford, who employed [[Cornelius Vermuyden]] as engineer. Contrary to popular belief, Vermuyden was not involved with the draining of the Great Fen in Cambridgeshire and Norfolk in the 1630s, but only became involved with the second phase of construction in the 1650s.<ref>Margaret Albright Knittl, "The design for the initial drainage of the Great Level of the Fens: an historical whodunit in three parts", ''Agricultural History Review'', 55:1 (2007), pp. 23–50. [http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&cpsidt=18823993 Abstract] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721002301/http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&cpsidt=18823993 |date=21 July 2011 }}</ref> The scheme was imposed despite huge opposition from locals who were losing their livelihoods based on fishing and wildfowling. Fenmen known as the Fen Tigers tried to sabotage the drainage efforts.

Two cuts were made in the Cambridgeshire Fens to join the [[River Great Ouse]] to the sea at King's Lynn – the [[Old Bedford River]] and the [[New Bedford River]], the latter being known also as the ''Hundred Foot Drain''. Both cuts were named after the [[Francis Russell, 4th Earl of Bedford|Fourth Earl of Bedford]] who, along with some ''gentlemen adventurers'' ([[venture capitalist]]s), funded the construction and were rewarded with large grants of the resulting farmland. The work was directed by engineers from the [[Low Countries]]. Following this initial drainage, the Fens were still extremely susceptible to flooding, so [[windpump]]s were used to pump water away from affected areas. The Company of Adventurers were more formally incorporated in 1663 as the [[Bedford Level Corporation]].

However, their success was short-lived. Once drained of water, the peat shrank, and the fields lowered further. The more effectively they were drained, the worse the problem became, and soon the fields were lower than the surrounding rivers. By the end of the 17th century, the land was under water once again.

Though the three Bedford Levels together formed the biggest scheme, they were not the only ones. [[Robert Bertie, 1st Earl of Lindsey|Lord Lindsey]] and his partner [[William Killigrew (1606–1695)|Sir William Killigrew]] had the Lindsey Level inhabited by farmers by 1638, but the onset of the [[English Civil War|Civil War]] permitted the destruction of the works until the [[act of Parliament]] that led to the formation of the Black Sluice Commissioners, the [[Black Sluice Drainage Act 1765]] ([[5 Geo. 3]]. c. ''86'').<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.blacksluiceidb.gov.uk/the-drainage-board/history.html |title=Historyof the Black Sluice Internal Drainage Board |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110428032212/http://www.blacksluiceidb.gov.uk/the-drainage-board/history.html |archive-date=28 April 2011 |df=dmy-all }}</ref>

[[File:Stretham Old Engine.JPG|thumb|right|[[Stretham Old Engine]],<br />alongside the River Great Ouse]]
Many original records of the Bedford Level Corporation, including maps of the Levels, are now held by [[Cambridgeshire Archives and Local Studies]] Service at the County Record Office in Cambridge.

===Modern drainage===
The major part of the draining of the Fens was effected in the late 18th and early 19th century, again involving fierce local rioting and sabotage of the works. The final success came in the 1820s when windpumps were replaced with powerful coal-powered [[steam engine]]s, such as [[Stretham Old Engine]], which were themselves replaced with diesel-powered pumps, such as those at [[Prickwillow Museum]] and, following [[World War II]], the small electric stations that are still used today.

[[File:Prickwillow Drainage Engine Museum.jpg|thumb|right|[[Prickwillow Museum]] shows the changing face of the Fens and the story of their drainage. It is housed in an old pumping station.]]
The dead vegetation of the peat remained undecayed because it was deprived of air (the peat being anaerobic). When it was drained, the oxygen of the air reached it, since then the peat has been slowly oxidizing.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.greatfen.org.uk/about/faqs|title=Frequently Asked Questions|website=Greatfen.org.uk|language=en|access-date=2019-09-20}}</ref> This, together with the shrinkage on its initial drying and the removal of soil by the wind, has meant that much of the Fens lies below [[Tide|high tide level]]. As the highest parts of the drained fen are now only a few metres above mean sea level, only sizeable [[dike (construction)|embankment]]s of the rivers, and general flood defences, stop the land from being inundated. Nonetheless, these works are now much more effective than they were.

The Fens today are protected by {{convert|60|mi|km}} of embankments defending against the sea and {{convert|96|mi|km}} of river embankments. Eleven [[internal drainage board]] (IDB) groups maintain 286 pumping stations and {{convert|3800|mi|km}} of watercourses, with the combined capacity to pump 16,500 [[Olympic-size swimming pool]]s in a 24-hour period or to empty [[Rutland Water]] in 3 days.<ref name=NFU>{{cite web | url = http://www.nfuonline.com/Regions/East-Anglia/News/Why-farming-matters-in-the-Fens(2)/ | title = Why Farming Matters in the Fens (2) | access-date = 17 March 2011 | format = PDF | publisher = NFU East Anglia | year = 2008 | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110427133115/http://www.nfuonline.com/Regions/East-Anglia/News/Why-farming-matters-in-the-Fens(2)/ | archive-date = 27 April 2011 | df = dmy-all }}</ref>