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129-444: The artesian spring is fed by a limestone aquifer, which has been extensively used to supply drinking water to the locality and to Spalding . After a period of low rainfall in the late 1980s, the spring and hence the upper river dried up completely. A remediation project was implemented in 1992/93 to repair wild boreholes, where artesian water was uncontrollably running to waste. 30 boreholes were plugged or repaired, and water returned to

258-559: A 36-inch (91 cm) Gwynnes pump was installed to assist the gas engine in 1933, and both engines were replaced by a 24-inch (61 cm) electric pump in 1968. Drainage of the South Fen was complicated by the fact that it was hemmed in by Bourne Eau and the River Glen, both of which were embanked. The solution adopted by Thomas Lovell, working on behalf of the Adventurers of Deeping Fen in

387-628: A centre of the bulb industry. It has had close links with the Netherlands (origin of the Geest family, who were former major local employers). The annual Tulip Parade took place on the first Saturday in May, from 1959 and was a major tourist attraction. Its procession of floats on various themes, was each decorated with tulip petals, a by-product of the bulb industry. In years when the tulips are late, daffodils or hyacinths were sometimes used in their place. When

516-532: A grant from Spalding Urban District Council . This was one of the first examples of this type of rail support in the UK and was not advocated in the Beeching Report . The Fens The Fens or Fenlands in eastern England are a naturally marshy region supporting a rich ecology and numerous species. Most of the fens were drained centuries ago, resulting in a flat, dry, low-lying agricultural region supported by

645-490: A heritage centre. The present building was constructed in 1800, and the mill was operated for two three-hour periods each day. This was subsequently increased, by digging a new channel, and was later supplemented by a gas engine. The mill had two water wheels, one make of timber which was 15 feet (4.6 m) in diameter by 3 feet (0.91 m) wide, and a second metal wheel which was 5 feet (1.5 m) by 12 inches (30 cm). The mill produced animal feed from corn and maize, and

774-412: A large trade, by river and by rail, in corn, wool, coal, and timber. It has also flour, bone, and sawmills, breweries, and coach works. There are remains of a priory of 1501, a fine old church (restored 1860), a grammar school, a corn exchange, and a spacious market place. The River Welland flows north from Crowland , through Spalding and passing the village and port of Fosdyke before leading out to

903-564: A number of Christians sought the isolation that could be found in the wilderness of the Fens. Later classified as saints, often with close royal links, they include Guthlac , Etheldreda , Pega , and Wendreda . Hermitages on the islands became centres of communities which later developed as monasteries with massive estates. In the Life of Saint Guthlac , a biography of the East Anglian hermit who lived in

1032-425: A popular, reasonably-sized, market every Tuesday and Saturday and on the first Saturday in every month a farmers market . Local fruit and vegetable shop Booth's sells much local produce to Spalding's citizens. They sell all major fruit and vegetables ranging from the famous, locally grown 'Boston' potatoes to imported rarities such as custard apples. Known as The Heart of the Fens , Spalding has been long famous as

1161-488: A road across the Fens to link what later became East Anglia with what later became central England; it runs between Denver and Peterborough . They also linked Cambridge and Ely . Generally, their road system avoided the Fens, except for minor roads designed for exporting the products of the region, especially salt, beef and leather. Sheep were probably raised on the higher ground of the Townlands and fen islands, then as in

1290-555: A severe shock attended by a rumbling noise in Bourn after midday. This was felt in Lincolnshire, Leicestershire and Northamptonshire. Houses tottered, slates, tiles and some chimneys fell. As it was a Sunday, some people ran out of the churches "in great consternation". In 1792 another shock was also felt in Bourne and neighbouring towns. There is evidence of human settlement near the Fens from

1419-406: A system of drainage channels and man-made rivers ( dykes and drains) and automated pumping stations . There have been unintended consequences to this reclamation, as the land level has continued to sink and the dykes have been built higher to protect it from flooding. Fen is the local term for an individual area of marshland or former marshland. It also designates the type of marsh typical of

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1548-411: A time, but competition from the railway saw traffic decline. A railway from Boston to Spalding opened in 1848, with a branch from Spalding to Bourne completed in 1866. A link from Bourne to Sleaford followed in 1872. By 1857, boats using the navigation only do so occasionally, and the self-acting doors were replaced by a sluice in the 1860s, which effectively brought navigation to an end. The Bourne Eau Act

1677-666: Is Spalding United , who play in the Northern Premier League Division One Midlands. The local rugby team is Spalding RFC, who play in Midland Division - Midlands 3 South . They play at Memorial Field. The local cricket team is Spalding Town Cricket Club, who have three teams on a Saturday in the South Lincs and Border Leagues and a Rutland League team and a Friendly XI on a Sunday for 2012. This as well as youth teams at multiple age groups competing in

1806-589: Is a market town on the River Welland in the South Holland district of Lincolnshire , England. The main town had a population of 30,556 at the 2021 census. The town is the administrative centre of the South Holland District. The town is located between the cities of Peterborough and Lincoln . The town was well known for the annual Spalding Flower Parade, held from 1959 to 2013. The parade celebrated

1935-471: Is a natural artesian spring, rising from the limestone some 165 feet (50 m) below the land surface. It once formed the source of the water defences for Bourne Castle as well as the power for the town's three mills . From the Wellhead, a branch flows to the east, along the southern edge of the castle site, while another flows north, then east and south, enclosing the castle site and Wellhead Gardens to rejoin

2064-544: Is in Spalding. The maternity ward was closed in the 1990s, and it served as a casualty hospital. The elderly and care patients were cared for at the Welland Hospital. Limits on expansion due to the historic nature of the building and space limitations (it is in a densely developed area) and lack of funding are causing financial trouble for the hospital and it relocated in 2000 to a new site in the town. A new nurse-led hospital

2193-988: Is listed under 3 owners in Domesday Book. Households: 7 villagers. 4 smallholders. Land and resources Ploughland: 1.5 ploughlands. 3 men's plough teams. Valuation: Annual value to lord: 1 pound in 1086; 1 pound in 1066. Other information Phillimore reference: Lincolnshire 11,2 Households: 40 villagers. 33 smallholders. Land and resources Ploughland: 9 ploughlands. 4 lord's plough teams. 13 men's plough teams. Other resources: 6 fisheries. 2 salthouses. Valuation: Annual value to lord: 30 pounds in 1086; 23 pounds 2 shillings and 7 pence in 1066. Other information Phillimore reference: Lincolnshire 14,97 Households: 5 villagers. 2 smallholders. Land and resources Ploughland: 1 lord's plough teams. 1 men's plough teams. Other resources: 2 salthouses. Valuation: Annual value to lord: 2 pounds in 1086; 2 pounds in 1066. Other information Phillimore reference: Lincolnshire 57,54 In John Bartholomew's Gazetteer of

2322-457: Is little agreement as to the exact dates of the establishment and demise of the forest, but it seems likely that the deforestation was connected with the Magna Carta or one of its early 13th-century restatements, though it may have been as late as 1240. The forest would have affected the economies of the townships around it and it appears that the present Bourne Eau was constructed at the time of

2451-490: Is much recreational use of the river and fishing is still popular. In July 2005 a "Spalding Water Taxi " service was launched, running from Easter to late October. Its route is from just off Spalding's High Street , upstream along the river, turning into the Coronation Channel, and then to Springfields Outlet Shopping & Festival Gardens, and back. It is mainly used as a recreational tourist attraction . Around

2580-715: Is not unique in English river names. It appears to have arisen in the eighteenth century. The older spelling was Ea , from Old English ǣ (ultimately from the Proto-Indo-European *hakʷā- "(moving) water"), see also Aach (toponymy) for more detail. Bourne "stream" is from Old English burne, burna ("spring, fountain"). [REDACTED] Media related to Bourne Eau at Wikimedia Commons 52°45′56″N 0°22′54″W  /  52.76565°N 0.38153°W  / 52.76565; -0.38153 Spalding, Lincolnshire Spalding ( / ˈ s p ɔː l d ɪ ŋ / )

2709-402: Is oxygenated, chlorinated to disinfect it, and checked for clarity. It is then pumped into the public supply network, most of it passing along an 18-inch (46 cm) pipeline to Spalding Tower. Water for Spalding has been obtained from the aquifer below Bourne since 1894, when the first borehole was drilled to a depth of 134 feet (41 m). Boreholes proliferated, and there were about 130 around

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2838-488: Is the point where the Welland is no longer tidal. Spalding falls within the drainage area of the Welland and Deepings Internal Drainage Board . The town (including the large village of Pinchbeck, to the north and the hamlet of Little London to the south) had a population of about 31,588 at the 2011 census and an estimated population of 36,737 in 2020 according to government data. In the past concerns have been expressed about

2967-577: The Black Sluice . Also this area includes the market town of Spalding and the ancient village of Sempringham . The above were all redrained at one time or another after the Civil War (1642–1649). These areas cover the northern most part of the Fens from Boston right up as far north west as Washingborough near Lincoln along the course of the River Witham and to the north east it extends up as far as

3096-672: The Gleed Boys' School and the Gleed Girls' Technology College . In 2012 they were combined as the Sir John Gleed School . On leaving Sir John Gleed School, many pupils transferred to nearby sixth forms or attended Boston College or New College Stamford , which both have Further Education centres in the town. In 2016, South Lincolnshire Academies Trust (SLAT) took over management of the Sir John Gleed School from CFBT , and it

3225-632: The Lincoln Central - Peterborough railway line , operated by East Midlands Railway . The service is irregular, and it does not run at night or on Sundays. It does provide convenient access to Peterborough for employment and shopping. The service to Peterborough was withdrawn by BR in October 1970 as part of the closure of the East Lincolnshire route from Grimsby and Boston , but reinstated in June 1971 with

3354-565: The Mesolithic on. The evidence suggests that Mesolithic settlement in Cambridgeshire was particularly along the fen edges and on the low islands within the fens, to take advantage of the hunting and fishing opportunities of the wetlands. Internationally important sites include Flag Fen and Must Farm quarry Bronze Age settlement and Stonea Camp . The Romans constructed the Fen Causeway ,

3483-536: The Townlands . It is clear that there was some prosperity there, particularly where rivers permitted access to the upland beyond the fen. Such places were Wisbech , Spalding , Swineshead and Boston. All the Townlands parishes were laid out as elongated strips, to provide access to the products of fen, marsh and sea. On the fen edge, parishes are similarly elongated to provide access to both upland and fen. The townships are therefore often nearer to each other than they are to

3612-580: The deforestation , as the town seems to have joined in the general prosperity by about 1280. Though the forest was about half in Holland (Lincolnshire) and half in Kesteven , it is known as Kesteven Forest. Though some signs of Roman hydraulics survive, and there were also some medieval drainage works, land drainage was begun in earnest during the 1630s by the various investors who had contracts with King Charles I to do so. The leader of one of these syndicates

3741-630: The fen violet will be seeded. The Fens Waterways Link is a scheme to restore navigation to some of the drainage works. It is planned to bring the South Forty-Foot Drain and parts of the Car Dyke into use as part of a route between Boston and Cambridge. The Fens is the origin of English bandy and Fen skating . It is the base of Great Britain Bandy Association and in Littleport there

3870-582: The 17th century described the Fenland as entirely above sea level (in contrast to the Netherlands), the area now includes the lowest land in the United Kingdom. Holme Fen in Cambridgeshire, is around 2.75 metres (9 ft 0 in) below sea level. Within the Fens are a few hills, which have historically been called "islands", as they remained dry when the low-lying fens around them were flooded. The largest of

3999-623: The 224 men from the town killed in the First World War. It was conceived by Barbara McLaren , the widow of the town's MP Francis McLaren , and designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens , known for his war memorials including the Cenotaph on Whitehall in London. It takes the form of a pavilion and a Stone of Remembrance at the head of a long reflecting pool; the names of the fallen are inscribed on the back wall of

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4128-617: The 6th century but was revived in the mid-10th-century monastic revival. In the 11th century, the whole area was incorporated into a united Anglo-Saxon England . The Fens remained a place of refuge and intrigue. It was here that Alfred Aetheling was brought to be murdered and here where Hereward the Wake based his insurgency against Norman England . Fenland monastic houses include the so-called Fen Five ( Ely Cathedral Priory , Thorney Abbey , Croyland Abbey , Ramsey Abbey and Peterborough Abbey ) as well as Spalding Priory . As major landowners,

4257-472: The Abbey Lawn complex and Victoria Place. This culvert is more recent, as it was built in the 1960s when the recreation ground became the Abbey Lawn sports complex. Before the culvert was built, the railway line to Sleaford crossed the river near to where the culvert starts. It passes under Queen's Bridge, and then runs parallel to Eastgate. Half way along Eastgate, the channel becomes much wider, where it formed

4386-625: The BCYCA Leagues. The local hockey club is Spalding HC, with the men's 1st XI playing in East Division Premier Division and the women in 1N. Spalding, like nearby Boston, is a regular destination of heavy goods vehicles transporting processed vegetables and other food produce. The A16 used to pass through the town until August 1995, when the Spalding- Sutterton Improvement (by-pass) was opened, built mostly on

4515-683: The Baston, Langtoft and the Deepings Internal Drainage Board (IDB) as it was by then known, was abolished, together with three other nearby IDBs, and replaced by the Welland and Deepings IDB. Wheeler (1896) gives the name Bourne Old Ea to what is now the Bourne Eau and Bourne Ea or Brunne Ea to that part of the Glen downstream of Kate's Bridge . He then quotes Dugdale , and an act of Queen Elizabeth I : The French -seeming spelling Eau

4644-462: The British Isles (1887), Spalding was described as a: market town and par. with ry. sta., Lincolnshire, on River Welland, 14 m. SW. of Boston, 12,070 ac., pop. 9260; P.O., T.O., three Banks, two newspapers. Market-day, Tuesday. Spalding is an important railway centre, while the river has been made navigable to the town for vessels of from 50 to 70 tons. It is in a rich agricultural district, and has

4773-664: The Bulb Museum (situated at Birch Grove Garden Centre, Pinchbeck) and the Gordon Boswell Romany Museum , to the south of the town. The Chain Bridge Forge is a 19th-century blacksmith's forge on the River Welland; many of its original features have been preserved and it is operated as a museum. The Chatterton Tower is a prominent landmark. Spalding War Memorial is in the grounds of Ayscoughfee Hall and commemorates

4902-587: The Counter Drain. Various engines were used to pump water through the tunnel, but after the failure of a gas engine in 1942, a new pumping station was built, to pump water into the River Glen. Drainage in the South Fen is now the responsibility of the Welland and Deepings IDB. The town of Bourne is surrounded by the River Glen . To the west, the East Glen and West Glen flow from north to south, and become one river to

5031-583: The County Record Office in Cambridge. The major part of the draining of the Fens was effected in the late 18th and early 19th century, again involving fierce local rioting and sabotage of the works. The final success came in the 1820s when windpumps were replaced with powerful coal-powered steam engines , such as Stretham Old Engine , which were themselves replaced with diesel-powered pumps, such as those at Prickwillow Museum and, following World War II ,

5160-665: The Deeping Fen Trust ever lowered the bed of the Glen, they would first have to lower the culvert. A number of scoop wheels, powered by horses, were used to assist in the drainage of the fen. Under the powers of the Land Drainage Act 1861 ( 24 & 25 Vict. c. 133), the South Fen Drainage District was created in 1871. They hired a portable engine to drive a scoop wheel, and bought their own engine in 1872. The scoop wheel

5289-808: The Fen Tigers tried to sabotage the drainage efforts. Two cuts were made in the Cambridgeshire Fens to join the River Great Ouse to the sea at King's Lynn – the Old Bedford River and the New Bedford River , the latter being known also as the Hundred Foot Drain . Both cuts were named after the Fourth Earl of Bedford who, along with some gentlemen adventurers ( venture capitalists ), funded

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5418-470: The Fenland has become a major arable agricultural region for grains and vegetables. The Fens are particularly fertile, containing around half of the grade 1 agricultural land in England. The Fens have been referred to as the "Holy Land of the English" because of the former monasteries, now churches and cathedrals , of Crowland , Ely , Peterborough , Ramsey and Thorney . Other significant settlements in

5547-464: The Fens during the early 8th century, Saint Guthlac was described as attacked on several occasions by people he believed were Britons , who were then living in the Fens. However, Bertram Colgrave, in the introduction to one edition, doubts this account, because of the lack of evidence of British survival in the region. British place names in the area are "very few". Monastic life was disrupted by Danish (Anglo-Saxon) raids and centuries of settlement from

5676-436: The Fens include Boston , Downham Market , King’s Lynn , Mildenhall , March , Spalding , and Wisbech . The Fens are very low-lying compared with the chalk and limestone uplands that surround them – in most places no more than 10 metres (33 ft) above sea level. As a result of drainage and the subsequent shrinkage of the peat fens, many parts of the Fens now lie below mean sea level . Although one writer in

5805-462: The Fens is involved in environmental stewardship schemes, under which 270 miles (430 km) of hedgerow and 1,780 miles (2,860 km) of ditches are managed, providing large wildlife corridors and habitat for endangered animals such as the water vole . In 2003, the Great Fen Project was initiated to return parts of the Fens to their original pre-agricultural state. The periodic flooding by

5934-447: The Fens were once permanently flooded, creating lakes or meres , while others were flooded only during periods of high water. In the pre-modern period, arable farming was limited to the higher areas of the surrounding uplands, the fen islands, and the so-called "Townlands", an arch of silt ground around the Wash , where the towns had their arable fields. Though these lands were lower than

6063-697: The Garth School (for those with more demanding educational needs). A vocational 6th form was established and launched in September 2008 as part of the Gleed Campus. It is not an automatic transition as with other schools in the area, like the Grammar, High, and the Deepings. Previous to this, there was no sixth-form available for pupils not attending the grammar schools, although pupils from Gleed schools can and do transfer to

6192-661: The Grammar and High for A-Levels. Spalding is located at the centre of a major region of flower and vegetable cultivation, due to the rich silty soil, which mainly comprises drained, recovered marshland or estuary . There are many garden centres and plant nurseries , as well as a thriving agricultural industry and various vegetable packing plants. The main vegetables are potatoes , peas , carrots , wheat , barley , oats , broccoli , spinach , lettuce , cabbage , kale and Brussels sprouts . The vast majority of these are sold to large concerns such as supermarkets, with little being available for sale locally. Spalding has

6321-682: The Lincolnshire Fens Drainage Act 1843 ( 6 & 7 Vict. c. xxxvii), transferred the maintenance of the drainage infrastructure within the North Fen from the Black Sluice Commissioners to the Bourne Fen Trust. The pumping engine was built at Guthram Gowt. In 1872, some 2,000 acres (810 ha) of the North Fen were flooded, when the level in the River Glen rose to 2 feet (0.6 m) above any previously known level, and

6450-430: The Lindsey Level inhabited by farmers by 1638, but the onset of the Civil War permitted the destruction of the works until the act of Parliament that led to the formation of the Black Sluice Commissioners, the Black Sluice Drainage Act 1765 ( 5 Geo. 3 . c. 86 ). Many original records of the Bedford Level Corporation, including maps of the Levels, are now held by Cambridgeshire Archives and Local Studies Service at

6579-440: The North Sea, which renewed the character of the Fenlands, was characterised conventionally by the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica as "ravaged by serious inundations of the sea". The modern approach is to allow a little farmland to be flooded again and turned into nature reserves . By introducing fresh water, the organisers of the project hope to encourage species such as the snipe , lapwing and bittern . Endangered species such as

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6708-419: The River Glen junction to the town of Bourne were authorised by an act of Parliament obtained on 29 March 1781, which suggested that the river had previously been navigable, but had become choked with mud. The act created a body of 12 trustees, who were empowered to maintain a channel which was 30 feet (9.1 m) wide by 5 feet (1.5 m) deep. They could charge tolls on all boats using the navigation, on which

6837-487: The Roman period, water levels fell once again. Settlements developed on the new silt soils deposited near the coast. Though water levels rose once again in the early medieval period, by this time artificial banks protected the coastal settlements and the interior from further deposits of marine silts. Peats continued to develop in the freshwater wetlands of the interior fens. The wetlands of the fens have historically included: Major areas for settlement were: In general, of

6966-477: The Wash , bisecting Spalding from east to west; the town has developed as a linear settlement around the river. Land had been reclaimed from the wetlands in the area since mediaeval times, and Spalding was subject to frequent flooding. The Coronation Channel, opened in 1953, diverted the excess waters around Spalding and ended the flooding. The area around the banks has been developed for residential and business use. Although this area has become heavily built up, there

7095-544: The Welland Ward, including the four beds of the Tulip Suite for palliative care. There are two major local doctors' surgeries: Munro Medical Centre, West Elloe Avenue, and the relocated Church Street Surgery at Beechfield Medical Centre in Beechfield Gardens. Smaller surgeries are in surrounding villages. The nearest major acute hospitals to Spalding are the Pilgrim Hospital in Boston (18 miles north) and Peterborough City Hospital in Peterborough (22 miles south-west). Spalding's two secondary modern schools (11-16) were

7224-456: The act allowed the trustees to build steam pumping engines. The introduction to the act stated that a number of wind-powered engines had been built following the 1776 enclosure act, but all had been removed after their condition deteriorated. In order to prevent the South Forty-Foot Drain from being overwhelmed by the volume of water pumped into it, a gauge was erected, and pumping had to stop when water levels exceeded an agreed height. A second act,

7353-404: The aquifer during dry periods, and as much as 18 Mld when conditions were more normal. One obvious benefit of the work was that water again began to flow into St Peters Pool, and Bourne Eau flowed for the first time in several years, although this may have been aided by a very wet winter in 1992. Once Bourne Eau leaves the town of Bourne, it passes through fenland. Until 1772, land on both sides of

7482-454: The area, which has neutral or alkaline water and relatively large quantities of dissolved minerals , but few other plant nutrients . The Fens are a National Character Area , based on their landscape, biodiversity, geodiversity and economic activity. The Fens lie inland of the Wash , and are an area of nearly 1,500 sq mi (3,900 km ) in the south east of Lincolnshire , most of Cambridgeshire (which also includes parts of

7611-436: The bank, and this distance had previously been specified as the limits for obtaining material for repairs. The enclosure act extended this to 180 feet (55 m). The North Fen drained by gravity into the South Forty-Foot Drain , but the owners wanted to improve the drainage. They intended to use steam engines to pump the water out of the fen and into the South Forty-Foot Drain, but the Black Sluice Commissioners objected to

7740-401: The closed Spalding to Boston railway line. The twelve-mile (19 km) A1073 between Spalding and Eye Green in Peterborough has been replaced by a completely new road classified as the A16, replacing the previous A16 that ran to Stamford . The older road has been renumbered as the A1175 . The town has its own bus station, Spalding bus station . Spalding railway station is situated on

7869-547: The combined capacity to pump 16,500 Olympic-size swimming pools in a 24-hour period or to empty Rutland Water in 3 days. As of 2008, there are estimated to be 4,000 farms in the Fens involved in agriculture and horticulture, including arable, livestock, poultry, dairy, orchards, vegetables and ornamental plants and flowers. They employ about 27,000 people in full-time and seasonal jobs. In turn, they support around 250 businesses involved in food and drink manufacturing and distribution, employing around 17,500 people. Over 70% of

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7998-421: The construction and were rewarded with large grants of the resulting farmland. The work was directed by engineers from the Low Countries . Following this initial drainage, the Fens were still extremely susceptible to flooding, so windpumps were used to pump water away from affected areas. The Company of Adventurers were more formally incorporated in 1663 as the Bedford Level Corporation . However, their success

8127-442: The construction of Rutland Water . These conditions led to a steady lowering of water levels within the aquifer, which were particularly bad in the mid-1970s, when river flows were significantly reduced. Abstraction from the aquifer was reduced, and river flows increased, but the lack of water in the River Glen led to most of the fish dying, and fish populations had still not recovered ten years later. Bourne Eau dried up in 1972, and

8256-457: The curate of the Abbey Church inspired a group of 30 young people to remove all of the rubbish from the muddy river bed. At that time, the existence of a number of wild artesian boreholes was recorded, but attempts to repair one of them proved difficult, and no further action was taken. A wild borehole is one where the discharge of water is no longer under control, and it continually runs to waste. There had been four years of below average rainfall in

8385-483: The day and evening. The South Holland Centre is an arts centre on Market Place that stages concerts and theatre productions and shows films. On 7 October 1979, the first barcode to be used at a shopping till in the UK was at Key Markets in Spalding. The new £425m, 860 MW combined cycle gas turbine Spalding Power Station , owned by InterGen, was built on the former site of British Sugar on West Marsh Road by Bechtel in October 2004. A second 300 MW expansion to

8514-496: The distant farms in their own parishes. After the end of Roman Britain, there is a break in written records. It is thought that some Iceni may have moved west into the Fens to avoid the Angles , who were migrating across the North Sea from Angeln (modern Schleswig ) and settling what would become East Anglia . Surrounded by water and marshes, the Fens provided a safe area that was easily defended and not particularly desirable to invading Anglo-Saxons . It has been proposed that

8643-469: The early 17th century, was to construct a culvert beneath the River Glen. It was to be maintained by John Heathcote, who owned the land. The culvert, subsequently known as Gilbert Heathcote's tunnel , allowed water to drain into the Slacker Dyke, now called the Counter Drain, from where it flowed to Pode Hole . The South Fen was enclosed in 1772, and ceased to pay taxes to the Adventurers by an act of Parliament obtained in 1738. A subsequent act ensured that if

8772-417: The early 19th century. There may have been some drainage efforts during the Roman period, including the Car Dyke along the western edge of the Fenland between Peterborough and Lincolnshire, but most canals were constructed for transportation. How far seaward the Roman settlement extended is unclear owing to the deposits laid down above them during later floods. The early post-Roman settlements were made on

8901-403: The edge of the Lincolnshire Wolds to the seaside town of Skegness . These were drained in the 18th and 19th centuries. At the end of the most recent glacial period , known in Britain as the Devensian , ten thousand years ago, Britain and continental Europe were joined by the ridge between Friesland and Norfolk . The topography of the bed of the North Sea indicates that the rivers of

9030-545: The existing Power station opened in 2019. Plans were submitted in December 2021 for a £160 million scheme to build one of the world's largest battery energy storage systems on land next to the existing power station. The Spalding Battery Energy Storage System project is being proposed by owners InterGen; plans have been submitted for approval to South Holland District Council. In mid-2006, a new wind farm (operated by Wind Prospect UK in nearby Deeping St Nicholas ) became visible from much of Spalding. The local football team

9159-406: The exploitation of farm and industrial workers from eastern Europe, as well as increased pressure on local services as a result of unplanned population increase; in 2007 the local MP, Mark Simmonds , said that "the real scale [of modern slavery in the area] is unknown, but it is out of control". The Johnson Hospital, named after prominent local figures, the Johnson family of Ayscoughfee Hall ,

9288-417: The fen-islands was the 23-square-mile (60 km ) Kimmeridge Clay island, on which the cathedral city of Ely was built: its highest point is 39 metres (128 ft) above mean sea level. Without artificial drainage and flood protection, the Fens would be liable to periodic flooding, particularly in winter due to the heavy load of water flowing down from the uplands and overflowing the rivers. Some areas of

9417-456: The first branch near Baldock's Mill. A culvert carries the water under South Street, and it flows along the edge of Church Lane, where it is crossed by a small cast-iron bridge with gates, providing rear access to Bourne Eau House. It carries the date 1832. On the other side of Church Lane is the parish church of St Peter and St Paul, a grade I listed structure that was originally the chapel for an Arrouaisian order of Canons founded in 1138. At

9546-536: The highest parts of the drained fen are now only a few metres above mean sea level, only sizeable embankments of the rivers, and general flood defences, stop the land from being inundated. Nonetheless, these works are now much more effective than they were. The Fens today are protected by 60 miles (97 km) of embankments defending against the sea and 96 miles (154 km) of river embankments. Eleven internal drainage board (IDB) groups maintain 286 pumping stations and 3,800 miles (6,100 km) of watercourses, with

9675-540: The land between the rivers. The internal drainage was organised by levels or districts, each of which includes the fen parts of one or several parishes . The details of the organisation vary with the history of their development, but the areas generally include: Bourne Fen and Deeping Fen lie in the southern most parts of Lincolnshire, between the Rivers Welland and the Bourne Eau with the River Glen running between

9804-605: The late 1980s, resulting in the Bourne Eau drying up again, and the National Rivers Authority undertook a project to seal or repair 30 wild boreholes located to the east of Bourne, between August 1991 and October 1992. Most had been drilled in the later 19th century to supply the isolated farms that were established when the fens were drained. Initially they had been drilled by hand, but later, steam engines were used, with most of them being constructed by J E Noble of Thurlby. The repairs were estimated to retain 7.5 Mld within

9933-625: The late 9th century, when Stamford became one of the Five Boroughs of the East Midlands under Danish control after years of invasion and occupation. Spalding was a settlement mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086, in the hundred of Elloe and the county of Lincolnshire. It had a recorded population of 91 households in 1086, putting it in the largest 20% of settlements recorded in Domesday, and

10062-474: The less stable peat. Since the 19th century, all of the acid peat in the Fens has disappeared. Drying and wastage of peats has greatly reduced the depth of the alkaline peat soils and reduced the overall elevation of large areas of the peat fens. It is also recorded that peat was dug out of the East and West Lincolnshire fens in the 14th century and used to fire the salterns of Wrangle and Friskney. In later centuries it

10191-418: The main merchandise was coal and wool, which were shipped to Boston for onward transmission to the north east. Return trips brought coal and groceries to the town, and a coal wharf was erected on Eastgate during the early years of the 19th century. There was also some trade with Spalding , including a regular service to take people and goods to Spalding market every Tuesday, but Thomas Hawkes noted in 1792 that

10320-411: The monasteries played a significant part in the early efforts at drainage of the Fens. During most of the 12th century and the early 13th century, the south Lincolnshire fens were afforested . The area was enclosed by a line from Spalding, along the River Welland to Market Deeping , then along the Car Dyke to Dowsby and across the fens to the Welland. It was deforested in the early 13th century. There

10449-532: The names of West Walton , Walsoken and Walpole suggest the native British population, with the Wal- coming from the Old English walh , meaning "foreigner". However, the villages are in close proximity to the old Roman sea wall, so the wal- element is more probably from wal or weal , meaning "wall". Walton is generally believed to mean "wall-town", Walsoken to mean "the district under particular jurisdiction by

10578-533: The next few thousand years both saltwater and freshwater wetlands developed as a result. Silt and clay soils were deposited by marine floods in the saltwater areas and along the beds of tidal rivers, while organic soils, or peats, developed in the freshwater marshes. Fenland water levels peaked in the Iron Age; earlier Bronze and Neolithic settlements were covered by peat deposits, and have only recently been found after periods of extensive droughts revealed them. During

10707-433: The north bank of Bourne Eau between the lower lock and Tongue End was breached. The Bourne Fen Trust attempted to sue the Black Sluice Commissioners, but the jury found that they had maintained the bank adequately, and therefore dismissed the claim. It was flooded again in 1877 when someone cut through the bank of the River Glen, but despite a reward of £100 being offered, the offender was not discovered. The Guthram Gowt engine

10836-536: The north bank was to extend as far as Goderam's Cote , and on the south bank to Merehirne. Another order was made in 1376, that the Brunne Ald Ea was to be repaired, raised and cleansed, but this time the responsibility for the work was shared between the town and the Abbot of Brunne. Later an order required that the banks be made 12 feet (3.7 m) thick and raised by an extra 2 feet (0.6 m). Documentary evidence for

10965-576: The north bank, the Black Sluice Commissioners negotiated with the Trustees to allow them to build a set of self-acting flood gates at Tongue End, where the river joined the Glen, and an overfall weir, which allowed surplus water to flow over the bank and into the Weir Dyke in Bourne Fen. The self-acting doors prevented high water levels in the Glen from flooding back up the Bourne Eau, and it improved navigation for

11094-460: The north end of Church Lane, another culvert takes it under the gardens of the vicarage. This culvert and the South Street culvert are quite old, since they appear on the 1888 Ordnance Survey map. When the river resurfaces, if turns to the south, running behind the church building and then to the east along the back of gardens belonging to houses on Coggles Causeway. A lengthy culvert carries it under

11223-402: The northwest of Spalding is a large waterway called Vernatt's Drain, named after one of the Adventurers who drained the Fens in the 17th century. Philibert Vernatti was made a baronet on 7 June 1643. A South Holland council nature reserve is situated on part of the old Boston railway line at Vernatts Drain. The Drain runs from the pumping station at Pode Hole to Surfleet Seas End. Fulney Lock

11352-425: The old historic county of Huntingdonshire ), and western most parts of Norfolk and Suffolk . Most of the Fens lie within a few metres of sea level . As with similar areas in the Netherlands , much of the Fenland originally consisted of fresh- or salt-water wetlands. These have been artificially drained and continue to be protected from floods by drainage banks and pumps. With the support of this drainage system,

11481-523: The parade beyond 2013. Spalding was chosen to host the World Tulip Summit in 2008, alongside a broader "Tulipmania" festival which coincided with the date of the fiftieth Flower Parade. The Spalding Tulip Parade was revived in 2023 by Stephen Timewell and many volunteers, and paid for through crowdfunding. Ayscoughfee Hall dates from the 15th century and is now operated as a museum. Spalding Parish Church , dedicated to St Mary and St Nicolas,

11610-493: The pavilion. There are several supermarkets: a small Tesco Express store, a Sainsbury's , a Lidl and an Aldi in the centre of the town and a Morrisons in Pinchbeck . Outside of the town centre, Springfields Outlet Shopping & Leisure offers a wide range of outlet stores set in landscaped gardens designed by Charlie Dimmock and Chris Beardshaw , among others. The Castle Sports Complex provides fitness facilities throughout

11739-419: The peat fens before the peat shrinkage began, the more stable silt soils were reclaimed by medieval farmers and embanked against any floods coming down from the peat areas or from the sea. The rest of the Fenland was dedicated to pastoral farming , fishing, fowling , and the harvesting of reeds or sedge for thatch. In this way, the medieval and early modern Fens stood in contrast to the rest of England, which

11868-516: The proposal, on the basis that it would prevent other fens from draining properly. The disagreement took a long time to resolve, but the Proprietors eventually obtained the Bourne Drainage Act 1841 ( 4 & 5 Vict. c. cxiii), which transferred the responsibility for the North Fen from the Black Sluice Commissioners to trustees representing the owners of land within the North Fen. Significantly,

11997-525: The region's vast tulip production and the cultural links between the Fens and the landscape and people of South Holland. At one time, it attracted crowds of more than 100,000. Since 2002 the town has held an annual pumpkin festival in October. In 2023 a new flower parade was organised by former councillor Steve Timewell. As well as the Flower Parade Spalding Round Table also host Spalding Festival. Maurice Johnson - Born in 1688, Johnson

12126-414: The river was treated as one unit, but an act of Parliament obtained in 1772 split the North Fen, to the north of the river, and the South Fen, to the south of the river, into two separate drainage districts. Prior to that, rents had been payable to the Black Sluice Commissioners to fund the work they did on the drainage network. An enclosure act, the Bourn (Lincolnshire) Inclosure Act 1766 ( 6 Geo. 3 . c. 52)

12255-405: The river. The present course enters the River Glen at Tongue End , a name which derives from the low tongue of land within the enclosing banks of the rivers. Apart from the spring, most of the water of the river is collected by the Car Dyke, which, near Bourne, is arranged to act as a catchwater drain, gathering the surface water of the upland and feeding it via the Bourne Eau and River Glen to

12384-474: The sea, without its entering The Fens . The course of the river through South Fen is clearly manmade, as the river is above the level of the surrounding land, but there is no known documentary evidence as to when this was first carried out. In the 13th century it was called Bourne Ald Ea or Brunne Ea, and the Commission of Sewers issued an order that it should be raised and scoured by the people of Bourne. Work on

12513-410: The service was a little intermittent, as there was often too little or too much water in the river. Investigation showed that the river levels rose by 9 or 10 inches (230 or 250 mm) for every quarter of an inch (6 mm) of rainfall in the River Glen catchment. The navigation included two locks, one near the junction with the Glen, and the other near Bourne. In order to ease the problems caused by

12642-427: The small electric stations that are still used today. The dead vegetation of the peat remained undecayed because it was deprived of air (the peat being anaerobic). When it was drained, the oxygen of the air reached it, since then the peat has been slowly oxidizing. This, together with the shrinkage on its initial drying and the removal of soil by the wind, has meant that much of the Fens lies below high tide level . As

12771-457: The south of the town. They then flow in a north-easterly direction to the east of the town. Bourne sits over a layer of Middle Jurassic limestone, some 100 feet (30 m) thick, which dips to the east, and is covered by Upper Estuarine mudrocks, which confine groundwater within the limestone layer. Bourne Eau rises in The Wellhead , otherwise known as St Peter's Pool, in Bourne. The Wellhead

12900-511: The southern part of eastern England flowed into the Rhine , thence through the English Channel . From the Fens northward along the modern coast, the drainage flowed into the northern North Sea basin . As the ice melted, the rising sea level drowned the lower lands, leading ultimately to the present coastline. These rising sea levels flooded the previously inland woodland of the Fenland basin; over

13029-563: The spring and river. The river divides North Fen from South Fen. Both were enclosed in the 1770s, and surplus water from the North Fen was fed to the South Forty-Foot Drain . Steam pumping was introduced in 1845, and the drainage is the responsibility of the Black Sluice Internal Drainage Board (IDB). To drain the South Fen Gilbert Heathcote's tunnel was constructed to take water under the River Glen to

13158-518: The spring at St Peters Pool. Historically this produced some 4.5 million imperial gallons (20 Ml) per day, and was of sufficient purity that it was bottled and sold as mineral water in the late Victorian period. The flow has since reduced, resulting in the river being smaller than it was. Anglian Water have two boreholes near the junction of Abbey Road and Manning Road, which are authorised to abstract up to 25 Mld (megalitres per day), although they normally abstract around 16 Mld. The water

13287-459: The terminal basin for the Bourne Eau when it was navigable. The Roman Car Dyke , now reused as a drainage channel, originally ran though the town, passing along the west side of Queen's Bridge, but a modern channel joins the southern section to the basin, on the north bank of which is the Anchor Inn, a small grade II listed public house dating from the 18th century. The A151 Cherry Holt Road crosses

13416-469: The three principal soil types found in the Fenland today, the mineral-based silt resulted from the energetic marine environment of the creeks, the clay was deposited in tidal mud-flats and salt-marsh, while the peat grew in the fen and bog. The peat produces black soils, which are directly comparable to the American muck soils . A roddon , the dried raised bed of a watercourse, is more suitable for building than

13545-461: The town and the lives of some of its residents. In 2002, the Civic Society decided to restore the wheels. The large wheel could not be rebuilt to its full size, due to modifications made to the building to make it suitable for public use, but the small wheel is operational, and drives a generator, which powers the heating system for the centre. A major component of the flow in the Bourne Eau is from

13674-462: The town by 1969. Most of these have since been sealed up, and only Anglian Water operates boreholes within the town. In the late 1960s, engineers began to appreciate that water was being removed from the aquifer at rates which were not sustainable, and several important studies took place to assess the situation. These coincided with a period of low rainfall, which reduced the speed at which the aquifer would recharge. Housing development at Peterborough

13803-578: The tulips were early, crepe paper had to be substituted. The flower industry has become less important since the early 21st century. The bands of brightly coloured tulip fields in bloom in spring that covered the fenland have decreased markedly. At its peak, the Parade attracted more than 100,000 visitors, but by 2012, fewer than 40,000 attended. That year, the Lincolnshire County Council and South Holland District Council announced they would not fund

13932-471: The tunnel, to replace the previous engine. This worked until 1942, when it broke down. The fen became part of the Deeping Fen Drainage District in 1943, and until a new pumping station was built in 1949, portable pumps were used to maintain the water levels. The new station had two vertical spindle pumps driven by electric motors, and the station was altered in 1973, to lower the pumps. In 1973,

14061-528: The two Fens and the area covers both the town of Bourne as well as The Deepings including the villages of Langtoft and Baston . The Lindsey Level, also known as the Black Sluice District, was first drained in 1639 and extends from the Glen and Bourne Eau to Swineshead and then across to Kirton . Its waters is carried mostly though the South Forty-Foot Drain through to the Haven at Boston though

14190-403: The use of the Bourne Eau is quite scant, but in the 16th century Bourne was a market town, and it is probable that the river enabled the corn trade to flourish. In 1765, there was serious flooding in the area, following the failure of the banks of both the Bourne Eau and the River Glen. As a result, the north bank of the river became the responsibility of the Black Sluice Commissioners, a body which

14319-608: The wall", and Walpole to mean simply "wall-pole" (Old English wal and pal ). When written records resume in Anglo-Saxon England, the names of a number of peoples of the Fens are recorded in the Tribal Hidage and Christian histories. They include North Gyrwe (Peterborough and Crowland), South Gyrwe (Ely), the Spalda (Spalding), and Bilmingas (part of south Lincolnshire). In the early Christian period of Anglo-Saxon England,

14448-403: The waterway at May's Sluice, and then it enters South Fen, where it is joined by another channel linking to the Car Dyke on its north bank. Below the junction its flow is supplemented by the treated outfall from Bourne sewage treatment works. The river is embanked on both sides, and there are low level catchwater drains running parallel to the banks. A bridge carried the railway to Spalding over

14577-528: Was a coastal siltland. At Wygate Park salt-making seems to have come to an end by the mid-7th century BC climatic change and flooding may have made such activities difficult, causing the practice to die out. The settlement's name is derived from an Anglian tribe, the Spaldingas , who settled in the area during the 6th century. They may have retained their administrative independence within the Kingdom of Mercia into

14706-555: Was built in 1284 by William de Littleport of Spalding Priory . The tower and spire were added in 1360. The Church of St John the Baptist was built in 1875, at the same time as the adjacent Church school. St Paul's Church at Fulney, on the eastern side of the town, was designed by Sir George Gilbert Scott and completed in 1880 after his death. Other local attractions are the Pinchbeck Engine Museum (just north of Spalding),

14835-589: Was built in 2009 off Pinchbeck Road in the north of the town, near the Pinchbeck Industrial Estate. The hospital is known as "The Johnson Community Hospital", keeping the historic connection with the Johnson family. The Princess Royal formally opened the new hospital in January 2010. This has drawn facilities from existing scattered sites into a modern central unit. The Johnson Hospital has 32 in-patient beds in

14964-529: Was created by an Act of Parliament , to construct the Black Sluice where the South Forty-Foot Drain entered The Haven at Boston , and to supervise the drainage of the Fens feeding that system. The north bank was a serious problem, as it was built on a peat subsoil, and defied attempts to raise it, with the result that the Bourne Fens often flooded. Improvements to the 3.5 miles (5.6 km) of river from

15093-628: Was expected to require an extra 100 Mld to maintain the public water supply, and it was thought that this could be obtained from the aquifer. However, since the passing of the Water Resources Act 1963 , all abstraction had to be licensed, and investigation showed that the aquifer was already being over-abstracted. It was thought that it could supply around 68 Mld, but licences at the time allowed 139 Mld to be abstracted, although only 77 Mld actually were. This imbalance meant that an alternative water supply for Peterborough had to be found, and resulted in

15222-537: Was obtained from the Butterley Company and erected in 1845. It was a 30 hp (22 kW) beam engine, driving a scoop wheel which was 15 feet (4.6 m) in diameter. The scoop wheel was replaced by a 20-inch (51 cm) pump manufactured by Easton and Anderson in 1895, and the engine was replaced by a Tangye gas engine in 1918. It drove the Easton and Anderson pump by a belt drive. A Ruston diesel engine driving

15351-469: Was obtained in 1776, covering the North Fen and fenland in the hamlets of Dyke and Cawthorpe. After dealing will the allocation of land for use as cow parture, it included a clause that ensured that the Well Head would be protected, and its water would continue to feed into Bourne Eau. Maintenance of the south bank of the river was proving difficult, because there was a lack of soil within 120 feet (37 m) of

15480-461: Was on the stream that ran around the northern edge of the castle site, was at times used for grinding bark for use in the tanning industry. It was demolished in 1910. Baldock's Mill was located where the streams left the castle site, on the western side of South Street, while Notley's Mill was a flour mill, and was located on the west side of Victoria Place, close to Eastgate. It survived until 1973. Baldocks Mill still exists, and has been repurposed as

15609-453: Was primarily an arable agricultural region. Since the advent of modern drainage in the 19th and 20th centuries, the Fens have been radically transformed. Today arable farming has almost entirely replaced pastoral. The economy of the Fens is heavily invested in the production of crops such as grains, vegetables, and some cash crops such as rapeseed and canola . Drainage in the Fenland consists of both river drainage and internal drainage of

15738-472: Was renamed Spalding Academy. The town's state grammar schools (still selective by eleven-plus exam) are Spalding Queen Elizabeth Royal Free Grammar School (11-16 for boys) and Spalding High School (11-16 for girls), both of which have mixed sixth forms (16-18). There are also schools for children with special learning needs: the Priory School (for those with mild to moderate learning difficulties) and

15867-410: Was repealed in 1962, removing the right of navigation, and the sluice was replaced by a pumping station in 1966, which removed the need for the overfall weir. The river has been used to power mills since at least 1086, when the Domesday Book recorded three mills in the village. There were three mills in the late 1800s, all of which were marked as corn mills on the 1888 map. Cliffe's or West Street Mill

15996-445: Was short-lived. Once drained of water, the peat shrank, and the fields lowered further. The more effectively they were drained, the worse the problem became, and soon the fields were lower than the surrounding rivers. By the end of the 17th century, the land was under water once again. Though the three Bedford Levels together formed the biggest scheme, they were not the only ones. Lord Lindsey and his partner Sir William Killigrew had

16125-470: Was supplemented by a centrifugal pump in 1887. In 1893, the engine was replaced by a new 10 hp (7.5 kW) portable engine, and a new scoop wheel was manufactured in 1904. The drainage district became the Bourne South and Thurlby Fen Drainage Board in 1910, increasing its area by 856 acres (346 ha). In order to manage this larger area, a gas suction engine driving a scoop wheel was built nearer to

16254-526: Was the Earl of Bedford, who employed Cornelius Vermuyden as engineer. Contrary to popular belief, Vermuyden was not involved with the draining of the Great Fen in Cambridgeshire and Norfolk in the 1630s, but only became involved with the second phase of construction in the 1650s. The scheme was imposed despite huge opposition from locals who were losing their livelihoods based on fishing and wildfowling. Fenmen known as

16383-561: Was the founder of the Spalding Gentlemen's Society and a prominent figure in the founding of the Society of Antiquaries. Will Wand - Professional rugby player for Leicester Tigers Archaeological excavations at Wygate Park in Spalding have shown that there has been occupation in this area from at least the Roman period, when this part of Lincolnshire was used for the production of salt. It

16512-492: Was used commercially in 1920, when the miller was Mr Baldock. The building was grade II listed in 1973, and initial restoration work was carried out by pupils from Bourne Secondary School, the Robert Manning Technology College (now known as Bourne Academy). It is owned by Bourne United Charities, but has been leased to the Civic Society since 1983, who have gradually turned it into a heritage centre, celebrating

16641-560: Was used locally for winter fuel and its digging controlled by the Duchy of Lancaster . Written records of earthquakes in the Fen area appear as early as 1048. According to Historia Ingulfi, p. 64, (1684) this took place in Lincolnshire. In 1117 one affected Holland, Lincs, "endangering and injuring Crowland Abbey ". In 1185 Lincoln was damaged. In 1448 a shock was recorded in south Lincolnshire ( Ingulfi, p. 526). In 1750 John Moore records

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