Middle Level Navigations

The Middle Level Navigations are a network of waterways in England, primarily used for land drainage, which lie in The Fens between the Rivers Nene and Great Ouse, and between the cities of Peterborough and Cambridge. Most of the area through which they run is at or below sea level, and attempts to protect it from inundation have been carried out since 1480. The Middle Level was given its name by the Dutch Engineer Cornelius Vermuyden in 1642, who subsequently constructed several drainage channels to make the area suitable for agriculture. Water levels were always managed to allow navigation, and Commissioners were established in 1754 to maintain the waterways and collect tolls from commercial traffic.

A new main drain to Wiggenhall St Germans was completed in 1848, which provided better drainage because the outfall was lower than that at Salters Lode. Whittlesey Mere, the last remaining lake, was drained soon afterwards, using one of the first applications of John Appold's centrifugal pump, following its appearance at the Great Exhibition in 1851. Traffic on the network began to diminish after the opening of the railway through March in 1846, and fell dramatically in the early twentieth century. The last regular commercial traffic was the tanker barge ''Shellfen'', which delivered fuel oil to pumping stations until 1971.

As a result of the drainage, land levels continued to fall, and in 1934 the gravity outfall at Wiggenhall St Germans was replaced by a pumping station, with three diesel engines driving diameter pumps. Its capacity was increased in 1951, and again in 1969–70, when two of the engines were replaced by electric motors. Following over 50 hours of continuous running at maximum capacity in 1998, a new pumping station was commissioned. Work on it began in 2006, and when it was completed in 2010, it was the second largest pumping station in Europe. Much of the drainage of the Middle Levels relies on pumping, and the Commissioners manage over 100 pumping stations throughout the area.

Interest in restoration of the Middle Levels for leisure traffic began in 1949, and the first significant work by volunteers occurred in 1972, when they worked on the restoration of Well Creek, which finally reopened in 1975. Since then, locks have been lengthened, to allow access by modern narrowboats, as they were built for Fen Lighters, which were only long. The southern reaches became more accessible in 2006, when a low Bailey bridge was raised by soldiers from the 39 Engineer Regiment. The system is managed by Commissioners, and they are the fourth largest navigation authority in Great Britain.

History

The Middle Levels of the Fens are a low-lying area of approximately , 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 straight cut from Stanground to Guyhirne. This provided 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 wide and 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 cut from the old course of the River Nene near March to the Well Creek at Nordelph remains.

Establishment

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 , and provided sufficient drainage that the land could be used for summer grazing. Vermuyden published a document in 1642, entitled ''Discourse touching the draining of the Great Fennes'', in which he proposed the division of the fens into three zones, the North Level, the South Level, and between them, the Middle Level, stretching from Morton's Leam to the Bedford River. An Act of Parliament, the ''Pretended Act'', was obtained in 1649, and work began under his supervision. The New Bedford River was constructed, 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. In addition to these new channels, the Middle Level also contained of the old course of the Nene, and the ancient artificial waterways of King's Dyke and Whittlesey Dyke, which connect Stanground to Floods Ferry. To the north is Well Creek, most of which was a natural waterway, although the final section to Salters Lode Lock follows the course of the New Podyke, a drainage channel constructed in the early sixteenth century. The primary function of the waterways was drainage, but water levels were managed to enable them to be navigated. The volumes of traffic carried are not well documented, especially in the early period.

Within the level, there were four large lakes or meres, of which the biggest was Whittlesey Mere. It was used for leisure boating, and was described by Celia Fiennes in 1697, who stated that it was long and wide, and noted that it was sometimes dangerous, since it was prone to sudden winds rising up 'like hurricanes'. In order to maintain and improve the route between Salters Lode Sluice on the Great Ouse and Stanground Sluice on the River Nene, another Act of Parliament was obtained in 1754. This created Commissioners to manage the waterways, with powers to charge 3 d per ton on goods entering the system through either of the sluices. Agricultural produce was carried through Salters Lode, bound for Kings Lynn, while coal, timber and groceries moved in the opposite direction. Pleasure boats were specifically excluded from paying tolls, as were certain products including manure, compost, malt dust, pigeons' dung and some varieties of oil cake. Another account of the system is provided by George Walpole's ''Journal of the Voyage round the Fens in 1774'', which was made in a fleet of nine boats, all of which were towed by a single horse called ''Hippopotamus'' when there was insufficient wind for sailing. Carpenters were employed to jack up or remove bridges which were too low for the boats to pass, and although the expedition lasted for 22 days, Walpole only recorded one gang of lighters, which delayed them as Salters Lode.

The system was enhanced in 1796 by the opening of the Wisbech Canal, which linked the Well Creek at Outwell to the River Nene at Wisbech. It followed the line of the Wellstream, another ancient waterway. At Outwell the Well Creek is also joined by the old course of the River Nene.

Development

A new Act of Parliament was obtained in 1810, as the 1754 Act did not make sufficient provision for the funding of drainage works, and in some cases ensured that flood relief could not be given until the land had flooded. The new Act transferred responsibility from the Bedford Level Corporation to local Commissioners, who had to be land-owners. They had powers to charge a levy on all land which could be taxed under the Eau Brink Acts. Between 1824 and 1839, John Dyson Jr was employed as the resident engineer by the Bedford Level Commissioners. He had been recommended by