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

River Great Ouse

The Great Ouse is a river in the east of England. At long, it is the fourth-longest river in the United Kingdom. The river has been important for navigation, and for draining the low-lying region through which it flows. Its course has been modified several times, with the first recorded being in...

 in the Fens

The 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....

 of Cambridgeshire

Cambridgeshire

Cambridgeshire is a county in England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the northeast, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire to the west...

, England. It provides an almost straight channel between Earith

Earith

Earith is a village in the Fens of Cambridgeshire, England, south of Chatteris and east of Huntingdon. At Earith, two artificial diversion channels of the River Great Ouse, the Old Bedford River and the New Bedford River, leave the river on a course to Denver Sluice near Downham Market, where they...

 and Denver Sluices. It is tidal, with reverse tidal flow being clearly visible at Welney, some 30 km from the sea.

The channel was created in around 1650 by 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:...

 as part of a project to reclaim the lands of the Bedford Level that were reclaimed in the 1630s and deliberately flooded during the Civil War

English Civil War

The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists...

. The workers on the project were predominantly Scottish prisoners-of-war captured at the Battle of Dunbar

Battle of Dunbar (1650)

The Battle of Dunbar was a battle of the Third English Civil War. The English Parliamentarian forces under Oliver Cromwell defeated a Scottish army commanded by David Leslie which was loyal to King Charles II, who had been proclaimed King of Scots on 5 February 1649.-Background:The English...

.

Both this river and its "twin", 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...

, are named after Francis, Earl of Bedford

Francis Russell, 4th Earl of Bedford

Francis Russell, 4th Earl of Bedford PC was an English politician. About 1631 he built the square of Covent Garden, with the piazza and church of St. Paul's, employing Inigo Jones as his architect...

 who funded the construction of both. The area between the two, 32 kilometres (19.9 mi) long, 980 metres (1,071.7 yd) wide at their greatest separation near Welney, is below the rivers and below sea level, and is frequently flooded during winter. Three large sluice gates at Earith open and close as necessary, to control the level of the River Great Ouse from Earith southwards, with the excess water flooding the Ouse Washes

Ouse Washes

The Ouse Washes are an area in the Fens of Cambridgeshire and Norfolk, England. They cover the area between two diversion channels of the River Great Ouse: the Old Bedford River and the New Bedford River .-History:...

. At Welney

Welney

Welney is a village and civil parish in the Fens of England, and the county of Norfolk. The village is situated immediately to the west of parallel Old Bedford River, River Delph and New Bedford River, which are here crossed by the A1101 road. The village is some south-west of the town of Downham...

, these washes provide an ideal habitat

Habitat (ecology)

A habitat is an ecological or environmental area that is inhabited by a particular species of animal, plant or other type of organism...

 for wildfowl and other birds, and the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust

Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust

The Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust is a wildfowl and wetland conservation charity in the United Kingdom. Its patron is Queen Elizabeth II.It was founded in 1946 by the ornithologist and artist Sir Peter Scott, initially as the Severn Wildfowl Trust...

 has established a nature reserve

Nature reserve

A nature reserve is a protected area of importance for wildlife, flora, fauna or features of geological or other special interest, which is reserved and managed for conservation and to provide special opportunities for study or research...

 here, the WWT Welney. A walking trail runs along its entire length.