Editing River Welland (section)

===Deeping Fen===
The drainage of [[Deeping Fen]] was again addressed when the [[Draining Deeping Fen Act 1664]] ([[16 & 17 Cha. 2]]. c. 11) awarded the [[Robert Montagu, 3rd Earl of Manchester|Earl of Manchester]] and others {{convert|10000|acre|ha}} of land in return for the drainage works. They were also obliged to maintain the banks of the river, to ensure that both the Welland and the Glen were kept clean and free-flowing, and to ensure that no tolls were charged for navigation on any part of the river below East Deeping. The inadequacy of the outfall and a spate of bad weather stopped them from completing their task. They tried renting out the land they had been granted, but many tenants were unable to pay the rent, due to the poor state of the drainage which reduced crop yields.<ref name=boyes243>{{harvnb|Boyes|Russell|1977|pp=243–244}}</ref> In April 1729, the Deeping Fen Adventurers received a letter from Captain John Perry, expressing the opinion that the only way to improve the drainage was to improve the river outfalls, and proposing the construction of scouring sluices on the river at Spalding, on Vernatt's drain at its outfall, and on the River Glen at Surfleet. Perry was an engineer of some repute, who had set the standard for engineering reports in 1727, when he published his recommendations for the North Level of the Fens. His plans were approved, and the Adventurers offered to give him land covering nearly {{convert|6000|acre|ha}} in payment for the work. He sold one-third of the land to finance the project, and began work in 1730. Cowbit sluice on the Welland had six {{convert|6|ft|m|adj=on}} wide gates which were operated by chains connected to a treadwheel. At high tide, water was penned in Cowbit Wash, between banks which were set well back from the main channel. The bed of the river below the sluice was loosened by dragging wooden rollers with iron spikes over it. At low tide, the sluice gates were opened, and the flow scoured out the silt for some {{convert|3|mi|km}} downstream. A navigation lock was constructed beside the sluice, so that vessels could still gain access to the river above. Perry died in February 1733, and was buried in Spalding churchyard.<ref>{{harvnb|Skempton|2002|pp=522–523}}</ref> The lock lasted until it was removed by the Welland commissioners in 1813.<ref name=boyes243/>

Perry was succeeded by [[John Grundy, Sr.]], who published a paper in 1734 on flow in open drains. He calculated theoretic flow rates, and then used observation in the field to modify the results. He oversaw a programme of repairs to the Deeping Bank, which ran for {{convert|12|mi|km}} along the north and west side of the river, while John Scribo was employed to do the same for the Country Bank, which ran for {{convert|6|mi|km}} on the south and east. Grundy made the river deeper above Spalding, and also constructed a sluice and reservoir at the mouth of the Glen. The reservoir covered {{convert|8|acre|ha}} and provided water to scour the channel below the sluice.<ref>{{harvnb|Skempton|2002|p=277}}</ref> His son, [[John Grundy, Jr.]], took over after the death of his father in 1748, and spent nearly £10,000 on bank repairs between then and 1764. He rebuilt Perry's sluice soon after 1750, with taller doors and a set of tide gates to prevent the tide moving upstream, and rebuilt the navigation lock in 1754. After 1764, Thomas Hogard became the surveyor of works, but Grundy continued to act as a consultant engineer.<ref>{{harvnb|Skempton|2002|p=279}}</ref>

Hogard devised a scheme to cut a new channel from the junction of the Welland and the Glen to [[Wyberton]], on the estuary of the [[River Witham]] below Boston. At the end of the {{convert|7.5|mi|km|adj=on}} cut, there would be a huge sluice and a navigation lock. The Adventurers asked Thomas Tofield for a second opinion, who suggested a shorter {{convert|5|mi|km|0|adj=on}} cut from Spalding to Fosdyke. They requested help from Grundy, who proposed a {{convert|1.5|mi|km|adj=on}} cut to Fosdyke, and that the outfall of Vernatt's drain should be moved {{convert|2.5|mi|km}} downstream. Improvements to the drain were carried out under an act of Parliament, the Fen Drainage Act 1774 ([[14 Geo. 3]]. c. 16) obtained in 1774, and another act of Parliament, the [[Lincoln Drainage, etc. Act 1794]] ([[34 Geo. 3]]. c. 102), was obtained in 1794 to sanction the Wyberton cut, although the work was not carried out, and Grundy's cut was built under a new act of Parliament{{which|date=August 2024}} of 1801.<ref>{{harvnb|Skempton|2002|pp=327–328}}</ref>

Several prominent civil engineer considered the problems of Deeping Fen and the river outfall at the end of the 1700s. Two reports were produced, one by George Maxwell, and the second by Edward Hare, who had been assisted by [[William Jessop]] and [[John Rennie the Elder|John Rennie]]. They formed the basis for the Deeping Fen Act 1801.{{which|date=August 2024}} The channel above Spalding was made deeper, the north bank was made stronger, and the North and South Drove Drains were enlarged through the fen. One of Rennie's recommendations had been to replace the windmills which drove the drainage pumps with a steam pumping station at Pode Hole, but this was not implemented. After reports by Rennie and Thomas Pear in 1815, and by Rennie alone in 1818 and 1820, the provision of steam engines was authorised by an act of Parliament{{which|date=August 2024}} in 1823. The trustees appointed by the 1801 act continued to manage Deeping Fen until they were replaced in 1939 by the Deeping Fen, Spalding and Pinchbeck [[Internal Drainage Board]],<ref>{{harvnb|Boyes|Russell|1977|pp=247–248}}</ref> subsequently renamed the Welland & Deepings Internal Drainage Board.<ref>{{cite web |title=Home Page |url=https://www.wellandidb.org.uk/ |publisher=Welland & Deepings IDB |access-date=26 May 2018}}</ref>