Middle Level Navigations
Encyclopedia
The Middle Level Navigations are a network of waterways in England
, primarily used for land drainage, between the Rivers Nene
and Great Ouse, between Peterborough
and Cambridge
.
are a low-lying area of approximately 270 square miles (699.3 km²), much of which is at or below sea level. Attempts to protect them from inundation, and to make them suitable for agriculture began in 1480, when the Bishop of Ely, John Morton, constructed a 12 miles (19.3 km) straight cut from Stanground
to Guyhirne, providing the waters of the River Nene
with a more direct route to the sea than the previous route through Benwick
, Floods Ferry, March
, Outwell and Wisbech
. Morton's leam, the name given to the medieval drainage ditch, was 40 feet (12.2 m) wide and 4 feet (1.2 m) deep, and much of the manual labour was provided by prisoners of war from the Hundred Years War. In 1605, Sir John Popham, who was the Lord Chief Justice at the time, began work on a drainage scheme near Upwell, and although the scheme was ultimately abandoned in 1608, Popham's Eau, his 5.6 miles (9 km) cut from the old course of the River Nene near March to the Well Creek at Nordelph remains. The next significant advance was in 1630, when the Dutch Engineer Cornelius Vermuyden
was employed by the Earl of Bedford
and others to drain the Fens. The Old Bedford River
was cut from Earith to Salters Lode, a distance of 21 miles (33.8 km), and provided sufficient drainage that the land could be used for summer grazing. In 1650, he supervised the construction of the New Bedford River
, running parallel to the Old, and the Middle Levels area was protected. The Forty Foot, Twenty Foot and Sixteen Foot Rivers were cut soon afterwards, to drain water from the area to Salters Lode and Welches Dam.
Between 1824 and 1839, John Dyson Jr was employed as the resident engineer by the Beford Level Commissioners. He had been recommended by John Rennie, and was charged with the reconstruction of ten locks and sluices, together with "a great many other works of great importance", for which the estimated cost was between £50,000 and £60,000. The work included the rebuilding of Salters Lode sluice, which Dyson oversaw himself, as no suitable tenders were received when the work was advertised. It was completed by 1832.
As the land dried, the peaty soils shrank, causing the land surface to drop. Much of the Middle Levels was flooded in 1841-2, and this led the Commissioners to obtain an Act of Parliament in 1844, which authorised the construction of a new main drain, 11 miles (17.7 km) long, in order that water could flow by gravity to Wiggenhall St Germans
, where the levels of the tidal river were about 7 feet (2.1 m) lower than at Salters Lode. The work was completed in 1848. In 1862 an Act of Parliament
created the Middle Level Commissioners
as a separate body to the Bedford Level Corporation, and they embarked on a series of improvements. Drainage was always the primary function, but navigation was also important, and the new body had powers to charge tolls for the use of the waterways.
1862 was also the year in which the Wiggenhall sluice collapsed and around 9 square miles (23.3 km²) of the levels were flooded. Sir John Hawkshaw constructed a new sluice, consisting of a large cofferdam, with 16 tubes, each 3.5 feet (1.1 m) in diameter, which passed over the top of it. The top of these pipes was 20 feet (6.1 m) above the inlet and outlet, and an air pump was used to remove the air from them, so that the water would syphon over the cofferdam. It was the only time that such a solution was tried in the Fens, and it was supplemented in 1880 by a more conventional gravity sluice, also constucted by Hawkshaw, as it was unable to discharge sufficient water at high tides.
The Tebbitt's Bridge pumping station houses six Allen 39 inch (0.9906 m) diameter pumps, each capable of pumping 260 Mld. Three of them are powered by 168 kW electric induction motors, manufactured by Lawrence Scott, which are controlled automatically, while the other three are powered by Dorman 274 bhp diesel engines, which are controlled manually. There is a standby generator, to cope with loss of the electric supply, and when all six pumps are operational, the station can pump 1586 Mld, equivalent to 18 tonnes a second.
In April 1998, the St Germans pumping station ran at maximum capacity, which is 6134 Mld (or 71 tonnes a second), for over 50 hours, and this led to the decision to replace it with a brand new installation, with 40% extra capacity. Work started in December 2006, and the pumping station, which includes the second largest pumps in Europe, includes a glass wall to enable visitors to see the pumps. The new station was commissioned in February 2010, after which the old station was demolished. There are more than one hundred smaller pumping stations scattered throughout the system to maintain the water levels and prevent flooding.
The navigations are managed by the Middle Level Commissioners
, who are responsible for about 120 miles (192 km) of waterway, of which around 100 miles (160 km) are navigable. The Commissioners are also responsible for six locks and a number of pumping stations, and are the fourth largest navigation authority in Great Britain.
The navigations often form a short cut for boaters between the River Nene at Peterborough
and the River Great Ouse at Salters Lode Lock. The suggested route passes through Stanground Sluice, along King's Dyke to Ashline Lock, and then along Whittlesey Dike to Flood's Ferry junction. From here the route is along the old course of the River Nene, passing through the twin villages of Outwell and Upwell, where the abandoned Wisbech Canal
once formed a route back to the new course of the River Nene. The final stretch to Salters Lode lock is along Well Creek, passing over the top of the Middle Level Main Drain on Mullicourt Aqueduct.
The alternative route via Horseway sluice and the Old Bedford River is problematic, as very low water levels between Horseway sluice and Welches Dam lock normally prevent passage. This stands to be improved, however, as part of the Fens Waterways Link
project.
Access to other parts of the Levels was improved in 2006, when soldiers from the 53rd Field Squadron of the 39 Engineer Regiment raised the level of a Bailey bridge at Ramsey Hollow. This had previously restricted passage, as it was very low, but the exercise increased the headroom by 3 ft (0.9 m). The Inland Waterways Association raised the funding for the additional materials required, and the reconstruction opened up a 33 miles (53.1 km) cruising ring on the Levels.
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, primarily used for land drainage, between the Rivers Nene
River Nene
The River Nene is a river in the east of England that rises from three sources in the county of Northamptonshire. The tidal river forms the border between Cambridgeshire and Norfolk for about . It is the tenth longest river in the United Kingdom, and is navigable for from Northampton to The...
and Great Ouse, between Peterborough
Peterborough
Peterborough is a cathedral city and unitary authority area in the East of England, with an estimated population of in June 2007. For ceremonial purposes it is in the county of Cambridgeshire. Situated north of London, the city stands on the River Nene which flows into the North Sea...
and Cambridge
Cambridge
The city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...
.
History
The Middle Levels of the FensThe Fens
The Fens, also known as the , are a naturally marshy region in eastern England. Most of the fens were drained several centuries ago, resulting in a flat, damp, low-lying agricultural region....
are a low-lying area of approximately 270 square miles (699.3 km²), much of which is at or below sea level. Attempts to protect them from inundation, and to make them suitable for agriculture began in 1480, when the Bishop of Ely, John Morton, constructed a 12 miles (19.3 km) straight cut from Stanground
Stanground
Stanground is a residential area of the city of Peterborough, Cambridgeshire in the United Kingdom. For electoral purposes it comprises Stanground Central and Stanground East wards in North West Cambridgeshire constituency...
to Guyhirne, providing the waters of the River Nene
River Nene
The River Nene is a river in the east of England that rises from three sources in the county of Northamptonshire. The tidal river forms the border between Cambridgeshire and Norfolk for about . It is the tenth longest river in the United Kingdom, and is navigable for from Northampton to The...
with a more direct route to the sea than the previous route through Benwick
Benwick
Benwick is a village and civil parish in the Fenland district of Cambridgeshire, England. It is approximately from Peterborough and from Cambridge...
, Floods Ferry, March
March, Cambridgeshire
March is a Fenland market town and civil parish in the Isle of Ely area of Cambridgeshire, England. March was the county town of the Isle of Ely, a separate administrative county between 1889 and 1965, and is now the administrative centre of Fenland District Council.The town was an important...
, Outwell and Wisbech
Wisbech
Wisbech is a market town, inland port and civil parish with a population of 20,200 in the Fens of Cambridgeshire. The tidal River Nene runs through the centre of the town and is spanned by two bridges...
. Morton's leam, the name given to the medieval drainage ditch, was 40 feet (12.2 m) wide and 4 feet (1.2 m) deep, and much of the manual labour was provided by prisoners of war from the Hundred Years War. In 1605, Sir John Popham, who was the Lord Chief Justice at the time, began work on a drainage scheme near Upwell, and although the scheme was ultimately abandoned in 1608, Popham's Eau, his 5.6 miles (9 km) cut from the old course of the River Nene near March to the Well Creek at Nordelph remains. The next significant advance was in 1630, when the Dutch Engineer Cornelius Vermuyden
Cornelius Vermuyden
Sir Cornelius Wasterdyk Vermuyden was a Dutch engineer who introduced Dutch reclamation methods to Britain, and made the first important attempts to drain The Fens of East Anglia.-Life:...
was employed by the Earl of Bedford
Earl of Bedford
Earl of Bedford is a title that has been created three times in the Peerage of England. The first creation came in 1138 in favour Hugh de Beaumont. He appears to have been degraded from the title three or four years after its creation. However, the existence of the title altogether has been...
and others to drain the Fens. The Old Bedford River
Old Bedford River
The Old Bedford River is an artificial, partial diversion of the waters of the River Great Ouse in the Fens of Cambridgeshire, England. It was named after the fourth Earl of Bedford who contracted with the local Commission of Sewers to drain the Great Level of the Fens beginning in 1630.The idea of...
was cut from Earith to Salters Lode, a distance of 21 miles (33.8 km), and provided sufficient drainage that the land could be used for summer grazing. In 1650, he supervised the construction of the New Bedford River
New Bedford River
The New Bedford River, also known as the Hundred Foot Drain because of the distance between the tops of the two embankments on either side of the river, is a man-made cut-off or by-pass channel of the River Great Ouse in the Fens of Cambridgeshire, England. It provides an almost straight channel...
, running parallel to the Old, and the Middle Levels area was protected. The Forty Foot, Twenty Foot and Sixteen Foot Rivers were cut soon afterwards, to drain water from the area to Salters Lode and Welches Dam.
Between 1824 and 1839, John Dyson Jr was employed as the resident engineer by the Beford Level Commissioners. He had been recommended by John Rennie, and was charged with the reconstruction of ten locks and sluices, together with "a great many other works of great importance", for which the estimated cost was between £50,000 and £60,000. The work included the rebuilding of Salters Lode sluice, which Dyson oversaw himself, as no suitable tenders were received when the work was advertised. It was completed by 1832.
As the land dried, the peaty soils shrank, causing the land surface to drop. Much of the Middle Levels was flooded in 1841-2, and this led the Commissioners to obtain an Act of Parliament in 1844, which authorised the construction of a new main drain, 11 miles (17.7 km) long, in order that water could flow by gravity to Wiggenhall St Germans
Wiggenhall St Germans
Wiggenhall St Germans is a civil parish in the English county of Norfolk.It covers an area of and had a population of 1,155 in 476 households as of the 2001 census....
, where the levels of the tidal river were about 7 feet (2.1 m) lower than at Salters Lode. The work was completed in 1848. In 1862 an Act of Parliament
Act of Parliament
An Act of Parliament is a statute enacted as primary legislation by a national or sub-national parliament. In the Republic of Ireland the term Act of the Oireachtas is used, and in the United States the term Act of Congress is used.In Commonwealth countries, the term is used both in a narrow...
created the Middle Level Commissioners
Middle Level Commissioners
The Middle Level Commissioners are a land drainage authority in eastern England. The body was formed in 1862, undertaking the main water level management function within the Middle Level following the breakup of the former Bedford Level Corporation....
as a separate body to the Bedford Level Corporation, and they embarked on a series of improvements. Drainage was always the primary function, but navigation was also important, and the new body had powers to charge tolls for the use of the waterways.
1862 was also the year in which the Wiggenhall sluice collapsed and around 9 square miles (23.3 km²) of the levels were flooded. Sir John Hawkshaw constructed a new sluice, consisting of a large cofferdam, with 16 tubes, each 3.5 feet (1.1 m) in diameter, which passed over the top of it. The top of these pipes was 20 feet (6.1 m) above the inlet and outlet, and an air pump was used to remove the air from them, so that the water would syphon over the cofferdam. It was the only time that such a solution was tried in the Fens, and it was supplemented in 1880 by a more conventional gravity sluice, also constucted by Hawkshaw, as it was unable to discharge sufficient water at high tides.
Pumping Stations
By the early 1930s, gravity drainage was no longer adequate, as land levels continued to fall, and a new sluice and pumping station were constructed at St Germans, opening in 1934. The sluice was built in the centre of the old syphon sluice channel, with a pumping station on either side of it. Three pump sets were installed, with space for a fourth. Each consisted of a 1000 bhp Crossley diesel engine coupled to an 8.5 feet (2.6 m) Gwynnes pump, which could pump 840 tons per minute (1234 Megalitres per day (Mld)). Once completed, the syphon sluice was demolished, while Hawkshaw's replacement sluice and its channel were abandoned. The new works were paid for by a grant, given on condition that three quarters of the workforce were from the local area. The capacity of the station was increased in 1951, when a 1200 bhp Crossley diesel engine was fitted into the spare bay, and again in 1969/70, when the two pumps on the north side of the sluice were rebuilt, and the engines replaced by 1500 bhp electric motors. From 1977 to 1983, a series of improvements were carried out, which included the construction of a pumping station at Tebbits Bridge on Bevills Leam, and a lock at Lodes End. The banks of the Old River Nene were raised and clay puddling was used to retain the water, and major improvements to the Forty Foot, Twenty Foot and Sixteen Foot rivers were made, to maintain water levels for navigation. All of the bridges on the Sixteen Foot River were demolished and replaced to provide wider channels, and St Germans pumping station was again upgraded, when the remaining 1934 engine was replaced by a 1550 bhp Allen diesel engine. The improvements have restricted navigation in the lower south-western area, but greatly improved flood defences.The Tebbitt's Bridge pumping station houses six Allen 39 inch (0.9906 m) diameter pumps, each capable of pumping 260 Mld. Three of them are powered by 168 kW electric induction motors, manufactured by Lawrence Scott, which are controlled automatically, while the other three are powered by Dorman 274 bhp diesel engines, which are controlled manually. There is a standby generator, to cope with loss of the electric supply, and when all six pumps are operational, the station can pump 1586 Mld, equivalent to 18 tonnes a second.
In April 1998, the St Germans pumping station ran at maximum capacity, which is 6134 Mld (or 71 tonnes a second), for over 50 hours, and this led to the decision to replace it with a brand new installation, with 40% extra capacity. Work started in December 2006, and the pumping station, which includes the second largest pumps in Europe, includes a glass wall to enable visitors to see the pumps. The new station was commissioned in February 2010, after which the old station was demolished. There are more than one hundred smaller pumping stations scattered throughout the system to maintain the water levels and prevent flooding.
Today
Middle Level Commissioners
The Middle Level Commissioners are a land drainage authority in eastern England. The body was formed in 1862, undertaking the main water level management function within the Middle Level following the breakup of the former Bedford Level Corporation....
, who are responsible for about 120 miles (192 km) of waterway, of which around 100 miles (160 km) are navigable. The Commissioners are also responsible for six locks and a number of pumping stations, and are the fourth largest navigation authority in Great Britain.
The navigations often form a short cut for boaters between the River Nene at Peterborough
Peterborough
Peterborough is a cathedral city and unitary authority area in the East of England, with an estimated population of in June 2007. For ceremonial purposes it is in the county of Cambridgeshire. Situated north of London, the city stands on the River Nene which flows into the North Sea...
and the River Great Ouse at Salters Lode Lock. The suggested route passes through Stanground Sluice, along King's Dyke to Ashline Lock, and then along Whittlesey Dike to Flood's Ferry junction. From here the route is along the old course of the River Nene, passing through the twin villages of Outwell and Upwell, where the abandoned Wisbech Canal
Wisbech Canal
The Wisbech Canal was a broad canal near Wisbech in the Fenland area of Cambridgeshire, England. It ran from the River Nene at Wisbech to the Well Creek at Outwell in Norfolk, which gave access to the River Ouse. It was abandoned in 1926 and filled in during the 1970s.-History:The canal was planned...
once formed a route back to the new course of the River Nene. The final stretch to Salters Lode lock is along Well Creek, passing over the top of the Middle Level Main Drain on Mullicourt Aqueduct.
The alternative route via Horseway sluice and the Old Bedford River is problematic, as very low water levels between Horseway sluice and Welches Dam lock normally prevent passage. This stands to be improved, however, as part of the Fens Waterways Link
Fens Waterways Link
The Fens Waterways Link is a project to improve recreational boating opportunities in the counties of Cambridgeshire and Lincolnshire, England. By a combination of improvements to existing waterways and the construction of new links a circular route between Lincoln, Peterborough, Ely and Boston is...
project.
Access to other parts of the Levels was improved in 2006, when soldiers from the 53rd Field Squadron of the 39 Engineer Regiment raised the level of a Bailey bridge at Ramsey Hollow. This had previously restricted passage, as it was very low, but the exercise increased the headroom by 3 ft (0.9 m). The Inland Waterways Association raised the funding for the additional materials required, and the reconstruction opened up a 33 miles (53.1 km) cruising ring on the Levels.