Article - Vermuyden in Perspective by Colin Ella, part 11 Friends and Foes

W DUGDALE, a supporter of Vermuyden, nevertheless makes this observation, ‘There is no doubt that Vermuyden took too little account of the great advantages connected with draining to the Humber.

The alteration of the Torne was never a wise move. It remained a problematic area right up to recent times. He should have concentrated waters into the old River Don - and so out to Adlingfleet. It was navigable and could have remained so.’

It may be that Dugdale was perhaps oversimplifying matters here but one of Vermuyden’s own countrymen also comments, ‘Both the Torne and the Idle would have had a greater capacity as draining channels and a more rapid discharge than they now have if they had been planned to run in a northerly direction.

Vermuyden could have foreseen this and it is beyond comprehension that he should have neglected it. (Strong words indeed but his compatriot goes on) ‘I can only attribute the mistake to his strong desire to complete the drainage works with all speed and that he considered his system the quickest, cherishing the optimistic view that it would satisfy requirements.

The event proved the fallacy of this opinion though the system certainly proved to be a quick one.’

This series has tried to justify the claims of affected locals in Axholme that the King had no right to dispose of their legally granted common.

Here, flood waters aided their keeping of stock. Vermuyden ruined the benefits of their common land, and their fishing and fowling, a valuable source of income for the poor, was largely lost. Furthermore, these commons were reduced to between a half and a third of their former size.

The facts are that Vermuyden, in his own times, failed to make the drained fen of Axholme any more profitable than the undrained. The reputation of the Dutch engineer rests more in what he initiated than in what he achieved. That said however, what he planned and executed was indeed a great achievement and over some three centuries changes and modifications have transformed his groundwork into a very efficient drainage system, leading to a richness of arable farming. Over time Vermuyden has also enjoyed a higher regard accorded him in South Yorkshire than is the case in Axholme, perhaps because the former exercised a loyalty to the Crown through the Royal Hatfield Chace.

Next week Colin Ella begins a new series entitled, ‘The Way We Were’. Part 1 - A Budding Caruso.

 

From:http://www.epworthbells.co.uk/community/nostalgia/vermuyden_in_perspective_by_colin_ella_part_11_friends_and_foes_1_3550530

Article - Hunting meeting changed face of the area forever (Hatfield Chase)

Hatfield Levels is the name given to the area of land (and water) about ten miles north-east of Doncaster. It derives its name from the different levels of water that were produced when the area was drained in the 17th century.

At one time the main villages such as Hatfield, Thorne, Crowle and Epworth which surrounded the flooded land could only be reached by boat. This meant that wedding and funeral parties had to be transferred from outlying villages to the nearest church across the water with the ever-present risk of a storm blowing up during the journey.

The land above the water was rich in wildlife and hunting was a favourite pastime of the local nobility, as well as Royal visitors who called quite regularly. Deer were present in large numbers, as was wildfowl and fish in the marshlands.

In 1609 an important meeting took place which lead to dramatic changes, altering the Levels area for ever. Sir Robert Portington, who lived at Tudworth Hall just outside Hatfield, was entertaining Prince Henry, eldest son of James I, to a deer hunting expedition. The story has it that 500 deer were rounded up and driven into one of the large lakes called Thorne Mere, where the hunting party was waiting in around 100 boats. As the deer floundered in the water the huntsmen speared or clubbed the animal of their choice. It was indeed a strange and barbaric way to hunt such fine animals. One of the guests in Prince Henry’s party was a Dutch engineer by the name of Cornelius Vermuyden, who had already much experience with land drainage in his own country and thought that, with some thought, the land could be improved. The question of draining the Levels area - then known as part of Hatfield Chase - was discussed, and Vermuyden agreed to employ his experience as well as a large number of Dutch, French and Flemish workmen to do the job. An agreement was made to share the drained land equally between the King, the participants (Vermuyden and 56 others, mostly Dutch, who put capital into the venture) as well as a number of commoners (local inhabitants).

The drainage operation was an enormous task which involved the re-routing of rivers, including the Don, Idle and the Torne - the cutting of many straight drains and the building of flood banks and roads, all carried out with an array of primitive tools. The operation was not welcomed by local inhabitants, many of who opposed the drainage with riots, murders (of some of the workmen), fires, deliberate flooding as well as court cases. Despite such challenges, the drainage work was completed in about 18 months, which was a remarkable achievement. The reclaimed land was then divided up amongst the participants, who came over from Holland and France to claim their land. A valuable practice in the improved productivity of the land was a system called ‘warping’, ‘Warp’ is river or estuary carried sediment which, by natural or artificial means, settles on land after shallow flooding. Many acres of the land on the Levels were ‘warped’, thereby increasing its area of dry land.

The peat moors of Hatfield and Thorne played a significant part in the economy of the area, the peat having formed many centuries ago from a combination of heath, moss and bogland plants in which artefacts and even bodies have been found.

From:http://www.doncasterfreepress.co.uk/community/nostalgia/hunting_meeting_changed_face_of_the_area_forever_1_3475542

Article - Vermuyden in Perspective by Colin Ella part 9 - Settlers found the going hard

MANY of Vermuyden’s countrymen, working their acreages of reclaimed land, soon found it no easy matter, and indeed, the experiences of many of them were unhappy to the extent of disaster.

They did not make enough income to pay their bank loans or their land rates. Furthermore, they could not raise enough to pay their workers’ wages.

It should also be remembered that there was still a barrage of lawsuits and bickerings resulting from the drainage operation. Some of the settlers made poor farmers as they lacked the necessary agricultural skills.

They were left to make the most of their own hasty workmanship, for which Vermuyden and his advisors must take the major blame.In the face of all this, many of the participants soon returned to Holland, poor, disgruntled, and embittered by the venture into which Vermuyden had led them.

And yet Vermuyden received a Knighthood for his efforts in Hatfield and Axholme, but likely including his earlier record too. Today in the South Yorkshire region we see institutions, streets, etc, named after Vermuyden, but significantly, in Axholme, such accolades are few and far between. Here, it was unlikely that the inhabitants of Axholme were happy to see Vermuyden knighted.

Over the years, the aftermath of what the Dutch engineer initiated has seen considerable acclaim, but again, much more so in Yorkshire.

During and after the Drainage work there was an unyielding stubbornness on both sides - and Vermuyden certainly did not help this situation in that, right from the start, his actions provoked the long lasting outrages.

The early erection of a gallows at the Sandtoft Stockade, with the threat to hang protesting commoners as well as later, the use of the infamous Star Chamber for their prosecution made clear the attitude of Charles I and the Drainage Management.

Under the power of this monarch the dreaded Court of the Star Chamber built up a fearsome reputation and became a byword for misuse and abuse of power, and the Isleonians’ case stood little chance of a fair hearing here. Small wonder that this biased Court was abolished by The Long Parliament in 1641.

As the Isleonians battled on through court case after court case their righteous cause was gradually vindicated and from being deprived of 13400 of common in 1630, some sixty years later, only 2868 acres of this land still remained in the hands of the settlers.

Next week in Part 10 - Battling for Justice.

From: http://www.epworthbells.co.uk/community/nostalgia/vermuyden_in_perspective_by_colin_ella_part_9_settlers_found_the_going_hard_1_3460802

Article - Vermuyden in Perspective - Part 7: Failings in the Drainage System

LOOKING at Axholme’s necessary and elaborate system of waterways with two major pumping stations at Keadby and West Stockwith, aided by a score of minor ones, we can well appreciate the difficult task Vermuyden faced in trying to reclaim a vast acreage of flooded and boggy areas.

Not surprisingly, the failings of his efforts became apparent only months after its completion, and clearly revealed that there had been serious faults in its planning, calculations and execution. Whether really serious research into the conditions of the terrain across the whole area had been made we do not know.

The newly cut River Torne was far too narrow and shallow to make for an effective channel.

This defect prevented the Central Axholme commoners from enjoying any benefit, and moreover, they were even worse off, because, as the new Torne had been cut through higher ground, land which had previously stayed dry was now often flooded.

A similar defect in South Yorkshire saw floods which ruined barns, granaries, stackyards, and private houses, in the Snaith, Fishlake and Sykehouse areas.

Vermuyden attracted huge local antipathy and hatred, at one stage being described as ‘a monster of a man whose natural qualities no one English epithet can answer!’

In Axholme he had rudely disturbed immemorial rights effective in the interests of the poor.

The decision of Charles l to allow Vermuyden to proceed was precipitate and this absolute monarch ignored long-standing and ancient statute.

A Court ruled in favour of the Hatfield Commoners as early as 1630, and Vermuyden was made to restore 4035 acres to these complainants.

In the Epworth Manor many protestors tried to change things by violence - a business that would persist right up into the 18th Century.

They fought numerous Court cases in seeking justice as the Isleonians firmly believed that neither King or Vermuyden had any claim on the common land. They agreed that the Dutch did have legal right to drain Hatfield Chace but not the Manors of Finningley, Misterton, and Axholme.

In the Epworth area land taken for reclamation meant its stock farmers lost valuable meadow land and winter fodder.

The drainage work left them with unwanted summer flooding and in addition a lot of fishing and fowling was lost.

From: http://www.epworthbells.co.uk/community/nostalgia/vermuyden_in_perspective_part_7_failings_in_the_drainage_system_1_3420813