Editing River Lark (section)

==Navigation==
The Lark is thought to have been used by the Romans for the carriage of [[clunch]], a building material quarried from pits near Isleham, and stone for the building of Bury St Edmunds Abbey was carried to the site along the river. The first records of plans to improve the river for navigation date from 1635, when Henry Lambe sought to make it navigable from the Ouse to Bury St Edmunds. Although his plans were approved by a commission, there was local opposition, and it was December 1637 before he was granted a licence from the King to complete the work. The [[River Lark Act 1698]] ([[11 Will. 3]]. c. 22) was passed after having been pending for several years.<ref name="Gage on Hengrave">{{cite book |last1=Gage |first1=John |title=The history and antiquities of Hengrave, in Suffolk. |date=1822 |publisher=J. Carpenter; J. Deck |location=London & Bury St Edmunds |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.31158005597892&view=1up&seq=15&skin=2021}}</ref> By 1700, the upper reaches were again in disrepair, and Henry Ashley obtained powers to improve the river from [[Worlington, Suffolk|Worlington]] to below Mildenhall Mill, and to make it navigable from there to East Gate bridge in Bury St Edmunds. In addition to a schedule of tolls for the carriage of commodities, special provision was made so that some coal could be carried without incurring tolls, to assist the poor of Bury St Edmunds, and "gentlemen and persons of quality" did not have to pay for the use of the river by pleasure boats.{{sfn |Boyes |Russell |1977 |pp=178–179}}

Ashley built 14 staunches and 11 sluices, the latter almost certainly referring to [[Lock (water transport)|pound locks]]. In 1716, tolls amounted to £475, although the work was unfinished, and Ashley estimated that a further £800 was required to complete it. Disputes with millers were recorded in 1720 and 1722, and ownership of the navigation was disputed on Ashley's death. The [[Master of the Rolls]] gave it to Joshua and Joanna Palmer in 1742, but receipts were meagre, at around £267 per year, and the maintenance carried out was barely sufficient. Ownership had passed to their son, Ashley Palmer, by 1781, when the navigation made a profit of £274. In 1790, there were plans for a {{convert|31|mi|km|adj=on}} link from Bury St Edmunds to the [[River Stour, Suffolk|River Stour]] at Mistley, which [[John Rennie the Elder|John Rennie]] surveyed, but it involved heavy engineering work, including a {{convert|2420|yd|m|adj=on}} tunnel, and the estimated cost of £75,000 could not be raised. Palmer died in 1792, and the river was managed by Susanna Palmer, his widow.{{sfn |Boyes |Russell |1977 |pp=179–180}}

{{Infobox UK legislation
| short_title           = River Lark Navigation Act 1817
| type                  = Act
| parliament            = Parliament of the United Kingdom
| long_title            = An Act for amending and rendering more effectual an Act of His late Majesty King William the Third, for making the River Lark alias Burn navigable.
| year                  = 1817
| citation              = [[57 Geo. 3]]. c. lxxi
| introduced_commons    = 
| introduced_lords      = 
| territorial_extent    = 
| royal_assent          = 10 July 1817
| commencement          = 
| expiry_date           = 
| repeal_date           = 
| amends                = 
| replaces              = 
| amendments            = 
| repealing_legislation = 
| related_legislation   = 
| status                = 
| legislation_history   = 
| theyworkforyou        = 
| millbankhansard       = 
| original_text         = https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukla/Geo3/57/71/pdfs/ukla_18170071_en.pdf
| revised_text          = 
| use_new_UK-LEG        = 
| UK-LEG_title          = 
| collapsed             = yes
}}
[[File:Prickwillow Drainage Engine Museum.jpg|thumb|left|The Drainage Engine Museum at Prickwillow]]
The costs of maintenance were high, for in 1807 tolls of £1,348 were received, but profits were less than one third of that amount. Recognising that a large investment was needed to keep the river profitable, an attempt was made in 1817 to sell it to the Duke of Norfolk for £12,000, but this came to nothing. The original commissioners appointed under the act obtained in 1700 had failed to appoint any more commissioners, and so new commissioners were authorised by a further [[act of Parliament]], the '''{{visible anchor|River Lark Navigation Act 1817}}''' ([[57 Geo. 3]]. c. lxxi), with powers to raise the tolls to pay for the maintenance of the navigation. Little work was done, although a new lock and staunch were built at Isleham under provisions of the [[Eau Brink Act 1821]] ([[1 & 2 Geo. 4]]. c. lxiv). The South Level Commissioners, who had been formed by an act of Parliament{{which|date=June 2024}} obtained in 1827, took over control of the lower river, and re-routed it to join the new course of the Great Ouse which had been diverted into a cut to the west of its original route. Trade on the upper river was increasingly difficult, as a result of obstructions and shoals in the channel. The lighters used on the river often had to be partially unloaded at Prickwillow, to allow them to navigate the shallower sections.{{sfn |Boyes |Russell |1977 |pp=180–181}}

Control of the river above Isleham was inherited by Sir Thomas Cullum when Susanna Palmer died. He rebuilt most of the locks and staunches in the 1830s, resulting in increased trade in coal and general merchandise which originated from [[Kings Lynn]], but success was short lived, as the [[Eastern Union Railway]] opened a line from [[Ipswich]] to Bury St Edmunds in 1846, and decline was immediate. In the 1850s, with the Fornham to Bury section impassible, the Bury St Edmunds Navigation Company proposed a scheme to reopen the river to Bury railway station. Their prospectus stated that the Eastern Union Railway had been managing the river for seven years, but little changed, as they failed to raise a working capital of £20,000, and by the 1860s, the route above Mildenhall was ruined.{{sfn |Boyes |Russell |1977 |pp=181–182}}

Abandonment of the river as a navigation was authorised by the [[Railway and Canal Traffic Act 1888]]. The [[River Arun]] in [[West Sussex]] was the only other river abandoned by this act. Despite this, the Eastern Counties Navigation and Transport Co Ltd bought the river from Lee Brook to Bury St Edmunds in 1890, made Tuddenham Mill Stream navigable, repaired locks and staunches on the main river, and re-opened it in September 1894. The company was bankrupt by December, and the Icklingham to Bury St Edmunds section closed again. Some trading continued on the lower reaches, but commercial carrying ceased after 1928. Ownership of the river passed to the Great Ouse Catchment Board with the passing of the [[Land Drainage Act 1930]]. They rebuilt Barton Mills and Icklingham locks in the 1960s, but the bridge carrying the [[A11 road (England)|A11 road]] at Barton Mills was lowered soon afterward, and the present head of navigation is at Jude's Ferry.{{sfn |Boyes |Russell |1977 |pp=182–183}}