Selected quad for the lemma: england_n
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A17451
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A discourse concerning the drayning of fennes and surrounded grounds in the sixe countreys of Norfolke, Suffolke, Cambridge with the Isle of Ely, Huntington, Northampton, and Lincolne
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H. C.
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1629
(1629)
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STC 4270; ESTC S115722
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18,918
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23
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were wont to haue their dependance vpon vs and reliefe from vs. Is the old Actiuity and abilities of the English Nation who in former times were esteemed the greatest vndertakers in the Westerne parts of the world growne now so dull and insufficient that we must pray in ayde of our neighbours to improue our owne Demaynes The Duke of Venice is said to marry the sea as if he had with it but diuisum Imperium wee haue beene alwayes Lords of the sea and our Common Law hath adiudged the sea to be part of our Kingdome shall wee suffer that Regality to become obnoxious to Strangers and not that onely but the fresh waters within our Continent as if our selues were not able to bring them into order Surely our great plenty and abundance of fruitful Land hath beene hitherto one cause why this improuement hath beene neglected but of late the blessing of peace hath so multiplyed our people vnder our last two peacefull Princes that we haue transplanted many Colonies into Ireland Virginea Bermuda St. Christophers New England c. and beside hath stirred vp men at home to gaine much rich Land from the seas and in particular to attempt vpon this surrounded Leuel wherin that they haue not hitherto preuailed hath not beene want of skill or will nor yet of indeauour For diuers worthy men haue appeared in the vndertaking the last and worthiest being our late Soueraigne Lord of blessed memory who thought it no dishonour to declare himselfe an Vndertaker herein but being translated hence hath left The Honour of this Worke to Crowne the Raigne Of his deere Sonne our now dread Soueraigne For matter of security shall wee esteeme it of small moment to put into the hands of Strangers three or foure such Ports and Harbours as Linne Wisbeach Spalding and Boston will be when the out-fals shall bee opened to Low water marke and permit the Countrey within and betweene them to be peopled by ouerthwart neighbours whose strength and vndertakings begin to grow formidable or if they quaile themselues must giue place to our most Auncient dangerous enemies who will be ready enough to take aduantage of so many faire Inlets into the bosome of our Land lying so neere together that an Army landing part in each of them may easily meete and strongly intrench themselues with wals of water and drowne the Countrey about them at their pleasure This very thing was obiected by a worthy Patriot in a late Parliament wherein a bill was preferred for the admitting of Strangers to vndertake this Worke and thereupon cast out Finally if nothing were considerable but the matter of profit would it be thought fit to giue so great a portion of our Land as the third part of that Leuell to Strangers to empty themselues into and leaue our owne Countreymen with so great trauell charge and aduenture to seeke for seates abroad in remote parts when we may comfort both them and our selues by placing them at home Neither yet would I be vnderstood to be so enuious to Strangers as that I had rather the water then they should possesse the Land but the question being whither should be preferred to the Vndertaking of the worke Strangers or men of our owne Countrey I am out of doubt that no true English man will be scrupulous in the choyce Yet I doe ingeniously acknowledge that the industrye of some of our neighbours especially the Dutchmen deserueth commendations and imitation for enlarging themselues into the sea especially in and about Amsterdam and securing themselues from the sea by costly and ingenious deuices but such deuices are not proper for our busines which is to be performed in a farre different manner the error leading vs directly to the remedy which is meerely Naturall for Nature hath giuen to all riuers and waters as well their courses issues and out-fals into the sea as their heads and springs and by the former hath as well prouided for the vse of man as by the latter This guidance of Nature if wee follow and adde Art as a hand-mayd vnto it wee shall by remouing the cause auoyd also the effect and by consideration how the mischiefe hath growne learne to preuent it in the future wherein the sparing of cost is no frugality But if it be questioned Whether those Englishmen that offer to aduenture their estates and the reputation of their skill be able to accomplish the businesse the answer is That beside that they can demonstrate their abilities What praejudice can it be to any man to be an idle spectator whilest they expend their money and exercise their skill they requiring no recompence till the Worke be performed The third and last Question is How a Competent Reward may be apportioned for them that should vndertake so great a Worke This indeed hath beene the great and maine Impediment of the Drayning of the Fennes for many yeeres most men interessed being vnable to disburse Money and also vnwilling to part with any of their Land of how little value soeuer it hath beene vnto them or how great soeuer the improuement of the remainder might be or if some were willing yet the minds of the multitude haue not beene vnlike the Waters of the Fenne which not being contained within due limits but dispersed abroad ouer the surface of so great a Leuell are easily interrupted in their course by the slender opposition of Flagges and Reedes euen so these mens minds not being restrained by Authoritie nor guided by rule of Reason doe stray into seuerall Opinions and receiue Impediment from Oppositions as slender as those Weedes some of them being not ashamed to alleadge that by gayning of Grasse they should loose their Reedes and Sedge not considering the difference of their values But of late receiuing information from the King and his Councel and the Commissioners of Sewers taking into their consideration that the Wisdome of seuerall Parliaments haue thought fit to giue a part of such Lands to those that should improue the whole and pondering how great the benefit of such improuement would be to them and their posteritie haue not many yeeres since fallen vpon an excellent course to encourage men of skill and abilitie to embarke themselues in that Designe Whereupon after a Tax layd vpon the Lands of that whole Countrey by the Acre to enable the Commissioners of Sewers legally to conuey part thereof to beare the charge of aduancing the whole King Iames of blessed memorie declaring himselfe to be the Vndertaker a Decree of Sewers was enacted at Cambridge the 20. day of February in the yeeres of the Reigne of our late Soueraigne Lord King Iames of England France and Ireland the 19. and of Scotland the 55. Whereby was designed to be granted to his Maiestie for the supportation of that vast Charge 120000. Acres of the Fenne Lands to be conueyed vnto his Maiestie his Heires and Successors that is to say out of euery particular part a proportion answerable to the quantitie of
A DISCOVRSE CONCERNING THE DRAYNING OF FENNES AND SVRROVNDED GROVNDS in the sixe Counteys of Norfolke Suffolke Cambridge with the Isle of Ely Huntington Northampton and Lincolne Printed at London 1629. The Printer to the Reader GEntle Reader This discourse came vnto my hands not long since from a well-willer to the businesse therein treated of and I hearing that the Fennie-Countreys are at this time more then ordinarily ouerflowne haue thought fit to publish the same if haply it may perswade such as are interested to set forward the worke of drayning which would be both honorable and profitable to the Common-wealth as I conceiue A Discourse concerning the drayning of the Fennes COncerning the drayning of the Fennes in the sixe Counties of Norfolke Suffolke Cambridge with the Isle of Ely Huntington Northampton and Lincolne as well on this side Boston as beyond there arise three maine questions The first whether it would be honorable and profitable to the King and Common-wealth in generall and to those Countreys in particular if it might be effected The second whether it be Feasable The third how a compitent reward may be apportioned for them that should vndertake so great a worke For the first the first argument shall be the counsell and care of the State in euerie age since this Kingdome began to be improued appearing by the many Acts of Parliament concerning this businesse as against Weares Gorces Stankes c. begun the 9. of H. 3. itterated the 25. of Ed. 1. augmented the 25. and 45. of Ed. 3. the 21. of Rich. 2. the 1. and 4. of H. 4. And at length more districtly the 12. of Ed. 4. But in all these times by reason of the turbulent condition of the State at home and abroad the prosecution of this businesse was either altogether fore flowed or so snatchingly persued that little fruit came thereof But in the peaceable time of King Henry the 8. who was the first great Improuer and in whose time the mischiefe was growne to a great height a setled course of Commission of Sewers was established with a verie endlesse power such as hath neither length nor bredth against offendors it is the word of the Statute not onely against the fore-named inconueniences but now for the maintenance and increase of Walls Ditches Bankes Gutters Sewers Goates Caulcies Bridges Streames and other defences against inundations by which verie names of things in the former Acts not mentioned it doth appeare how the mischiefe was growne almost past remedy before any sufficient prouision was publikely made for redresse Yea although the Lawes of Sewers were ordained like Acts of Parliament not examinable by any other authoritie as being the most absolute that passeth vnder the great Seale of England such was my Lord Pophams iudgement yet so bootlesse seemed the labour vnto the Countries afflicted that the wisdome of the whole Common-wealth thought fit to prouide an other Act two yeeres after to constraine the Gentlemen of the Countrey vnder paine and forfeiture to take the oath of a Commission of Sewers as they should be thereunto designed In this time also that royall Lady Margaret Countesse of Richmond procured an admeasurement and diuision of all the surrounded grounds on the North side of Spalding which before that time lay promiscuously This was a great worke and of excellent vse not for those times onely but the fruit of it hath continued euer since euen vnto these dayes and will be a great guid in this drayning businesse whensoeuer it is vndertaken Neither did that royall Lady rest in this but she sat her selfe amongst the Commissioners of Sewers yea and set her hand to the verie worke of drayning and indeed hit vpon the right way but in her worke there were some notable errors the world not being then so skilfull which being followed by the neglect of the Countrey in time forfeited her gratious intention After her stood vp Iohn of Gaunt Duke of Lancaster and tooke great paines to perfect what she had begun He went into the Countrey in person and imployed all his authoritie in it but because the Countrey should haue borne the charge when he was once passed on to Yorke nothing went forward that hee had proiected notwithstanding his many Letters and increpations In the 3. of Ed. 6. the Commission of Sewers was made perpetuall which by the former Statute of H. 8. was to endure but twentie yeeres and in the 13. of Eliz. it was enacted that euerie particular Commission of Sewers should continue for ten yeeres which before was limitted to fiue and that in the interim betweene the determining of one Commission and the Awarding of another the Iustices of the Peace might execute the Commission of Sewers for a whole yeere After that by these prouisions and presidents mens wits were a little set on worke in the 29. of El. some Gentlemen vndertooke the recouerie of the Marishes of Erith Lesnes and Plumstead for whose encouragement a Statute was made That they should haue the moyetie of all such gained Lands and an eighth part of the other moyetie and hold it of the Queene as of the Mannor of East-Greenwitch in Socage by Fealtie paâ—ing a pennie an Acre yeerely and no Tyth for seuen yeeres This Act of Parliament incouraged many men to vndertake also in the Isle of Ely and the Countreys confining and that with approbation of the State because saith the Statute such Approuement will be a great and inestimable benefit to her Maiestie her Heires and Successors disburthening her Highnesse of many chargeable Bankes and workes of Sewers in those surrounded grounds and in the increase of many able Subiects by habitations being there erected and in like sort profitable to many her Highnesse Subiects both bodyes Politike as Corporate who haue estate of inheritance and other interest within the same The same also was the opinion of the State in the fourth of King Iames his raigne when the Parliament passed an Act for the vndertaking of Francis Tindall Henry Far and Iohn Cooper in the Isle of Ely which Act gaue them two parts of the Land so to be inned and drayned and immunitie of Tyth for seuen yeeres after those seuen yeeres which were allotted to them to doe their worke in To speake nothing of the improuement of Marsh-Land Waldersey the Londoners proportion and diuers others which though they remaine chargeable to the owners because the generall drayning is not effected yet doe they yeeld so great an improuement as well witnesseth how aboundant it would be if those charges by a generall drayning were preuented But if any man beside this Argument taken from the consent of so many ages wise and politike Princes and assemblies of Parliament doe desire to be led into those particulars whereby it is probable they were moued let him consider First the costly and troublesome meetings of the Commissioners of Sewers Grieuous though necessarie Taxations Hartburnings Emulations Controuersies and insupportable charges for cutting clensing and repayring of