The Geology of the Fenland |
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acres banks Bedford Level Bedford River Billinghay blue clay Bore Boston boulder clay Bridge chalk channel Church Tower Cill coast course Creek Croyland deep deposit depth discharge district ditto Dogdyke Drain drainage drowned Dugdale dykes Earith East Fen estuary feet fen beds fen rivers Fenland flints floods flowed geological glacial Grand Sluice gravel Guyhirn Hobhole inches Kimeridge Clay Kyme Lade Bank land Lincoln Lincolnshire Linn Littleport Lynn marine marsh Marshland Middle Level miles Müll neap Old Bedford River Oolite Ouse outfall Oxford Clay peat Peaty pebbles Peterborough Plate present rainfall River Nene River Witham Roman Salter's Lode sand and gravel sandy seen Sheet 64 Sheet 70 shells silt soil South Level Spalding spring tides stones surface thence thickness Tilney trees W. H. Wheeler warp Wash Welland Welney Whittlesey Wisbech دو وو
Popular passages
Page 16 - There are immense marshes, now a black pool of water, now foul running streams, and also many islands, and reeds, and hillocks, and thickets, and with manifold windings wide and long it continues up to the north sea.
Page 134 - moory land," "black land," or "fen" where the soil is peaty. The word "fen" has, however, come to be used merely in contradistinction to "highland," but it is an unsafe term to use in speaking to the labourers, for though among themselves they talk of "down the fen," it seems to be tacitly understood that to outsiders or inquirers "there are no fens now.
Page 52 - Around the shores a margin of silty deposit had heen formed, which, though often dry, was liable to submersion upon the slightest rise of the water in the Mere. Beyond this margin of silt, which varied in breadth from 50 to 500 yards, and was valuable for the excellent reeds it grew, there extended, especially towards the south and west, where the level of the surrounding land was lowest, a large tract of peatmoss, which, though generally free from water during summer, was constantly flooded in winter....
Page 217 - In their distress," says an old record of the flood, " the people of the town fled to the church for refuge, some to haystacks, some to the baulks in the houses, till they were near famished ; poor women leaving their children swimming in their beds, till good people, adventuring their lives, went up to the breast in the water to fetch them out at the windows ; whereof Mr. Browne, the minister, did fetch divers to the church upon his back. And had it not pleased God to move the hearts of the mayor...
Page 22 - ... Accordingly, all the population repaired thither, and infinite multitudes flocked to the spot; the choir and the cloisters were filled with monks, the rest of the church with priests and clerks, and the whole abbey with laymen; while the cemetery was filled night and day with women and children under tents. The stoutest among them, as well as the young men, kept watch among the sedge and alder-beds upon the mouths of the rivers ; and every day, not to speak of other expenses, one hundred monks...
Page 25 - The plain there is as level as the sea, which, with the flourishing of the grass, allureth the eye ; and so smooth, that there is nothing to hinder him that runs through it ; neither is there any waste place in it ; for in some parts thereo'f there are apple-trees, in others, vines, which either spread upon the grounds, or run along the poles.
Page 104 - Afore the since was made, at a full spring in winter, when the flood and fresh water did meet together at Dockdyke, the salt water and fresh water strove soe together, that the water ran soe over the banks of both sides the haven, that it drowned all the common fen ; soe that...
Page 82 - I had the sight of an Hygre or Eager, a most terrible flush of water, that came up the river with such violence that it sunk a coal vessel in the town, and such a terrible noise that all the dogs in it...
Page 307 - Collections for a Topographical and Historical Account of Boston, and the Hundred of Skirbeck, in the County of Lincoln.
Page 21 - It happened, fortunately, that this year the inundations had increased to an unusual degree in consequence of the frequent showers, and consequently rendered the neighbouring fens, as also the marsh-lands adjoining thereto, impassable. Accordingly, all the population repaired...