Now! Then! Disastrous flooding in the lower Don, caused by the failure of the colonist Cornelius Vermuyden’s land reclamation scheme to cope with snow-melt

20 December 1697: Disastrous flooding in the lower Don, caused by the failure of the colonist Cornelius Vermuyden’s land reclamation scheme to cope with snow-melt

Abraham de la Pryme. 1870. The Diary of Abraham de la Pryme, the Yorkshire Antiquary. Ed. Charles Jackson. Durham: Surtees Society. Get it:

Excerpt

The 20th it thawed exceeding fast, upon which there came a great flood down that the like was never known. It came roaring all of a sudden, about eleven o’clock at night, unto Bramwith, Fishlake, Thorne, and other towns; upon which the people rung all their bells backwards, as they commonly do in case of a great fire. The people of Sykehouse and Fishlake, though they had banks to save them, yet it topped all, drowned the people’s beasts in their folds and houses, destroyed sheep, and several men lost their lives, their houses in Sykehouse, and many in Fishlake, being drowned up to the very eaves. It came with such a force against all the banks about Thorne, which keeps the waters of the levels, that everybody gave them over, there being no hopes to save them, and ran over them all along, and the ground being so hard they could not strike down stakes upon the tops of their banks, to hinder the water from running over. At last, it being impossible that such vast waters should be contained in such short and small bounds, it burst a huge gime [hole in an embankment] close by Gore Steel, near Thorne, where had been a vast gime formerly, and so drowned all the whole levels to an exceeding great depth, so that many people were kept so long in the upper part of their houses that they were almost pined, while all their beasts were drowned about them. It was, indeed, all over, a very sad thing to hear the oxen bellowing, and the sheep bleating, and the people crying out for help round about as they did, all Bramwith, Sykehouse, Stainforth, and Fishlake over, as undoubtedly they also did in other places, yet no one could get to save or help them, it being about midnight, and so many poor people were forced to remain for several days together, some upon the top of their houses, others in the highest rooms, without meat or fire, until they were almost starved. The sluice at Thorne had like to have gone away, which if it had, it is thought that it would never have been laid again, because that the whole country would have petitioned against it, because it keeps the waters of of the levels, for but for it they would be drowned as much as ever, so that it would be impossible for any to dwell thereon, and it is said of all hands that, if it had gone, all the whole country would have petitioned against its ever being built again, so that the levels must have thereafter remained as it was before the drainage, a continual rendezvous of waters; and it is my belief that one time it will come to its ancient state again, which will be the ruin of all those that have land therein.

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To facilitate reading, the spelling and punctuation of elderly excerpts have generally been modernised, and distracting excision scars concealed. My selections, translations, and editions are copyright.

Abbreviations

Comment

Rob Downing has compiled a great history of flooding at Fishlake:

Before the 17th century there is no obvious evidence that the village itself suffered from significant flooding. However, human intervention during the early 17th century created radical changes to the local landscape due to substantial drainage work undertaken to the south and East of Fishlake and the river Don. This came about when Charles 1 st commissioned a Dutch engineer, Cornelius Vermuyden, to undertake reclamation work to large proportions of waterlogged land by draining Hatfield Chase, a large area which including Thorne and the Isle of Axholme. The benefits come from the acquisition of drained agricultural land that could then be distributed for profit, a third to the Crown, a third to Vermyden and a third to the inhabits. In some areas the project can be viewed and a success story. However there was an unforeseen negative side effect, the drainage project caused a great increase in the chances of flooding on the northern bank of the Don. This was due to the raising of Ashfield bank on the South side and by cutting off the Southern arm of the two courses of the river which encircled Ashfields. This forced the river to flow into the Northern arm against the Fishlake bank. More seriously, by cutting off the Don completely from its ancient route through the Levels at Thorne and forcing its total flow into the medieval Turnbridge Dike (running north to Goole) it produced a situation with which neither the Dike nor the ancient low banks at Fishlake could cope (Downing 2019).

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Original

On the 17th of this month we had a very great snow which, was on the level ground about two foot and a half thick after a pretty hard frost, which, as it thawed, froze again for several days. The 20th it thawed exceeding fast, upon which there came so a great flood down that the like was never known. About forty-one years ago there was then the greatest flood that was ever remembered, but that was much less than this; for this came roaring all of a sudden, about eleven o’clock at night, unto Bramwith, Fishlake, Thorne, and other towns; upon which the people rung all their bells backwards (as they commonly do in case of a great fire), but though that this frightened all, and called all to the banks, and bid them all look about them, yet, nevertheless, the loss is vastly great. The people of Sykehouse and Fishlake, though they had banks to save them, yet it topped all, drowned the people’s beasts in their folds and houses, destroyed sheep, and several men lost their lives, their houses in Sykehouse, and many in Fishlake, being drowned up to the very eaves, so that they reckon no less than 3000 pound damage to be done by the same in the parish of Fishlake.

It came with such a force against all the banks about Thorne, which keeps the waters of the Levels, that everybody gave them over, there being no hopes to save them, and ran over them all along, and the ground being so hard they could [not] strike down stakes upon the tops of their banks, to hinder the water from running over. At last, it being impossible that such vast waters should be contained in such short and small bounds, it burst a huge gime [a hole washed out of the ground by the rushing water when an embankment gives way] close by Gore Steel, near Thorne, where had been a vast gime formerly, and so drowned all the whole Levels to an exceeding great depth, so that many people were kept so long in the upper part of their houses that they were almost pined, while all their beasts were drowned about them. It was, indeed, all over, a very sad thing to hear the oxen bellowing, and the sheep bleating, and the people crying out for help round about as they did, all Bramwith, Sykehouse, Stainforth, and Fishlake over, as undoubtedly they also did in other places, yet no one could get to save or help them, it being about midnight, and so many poor people were forced to remain for several days together, some upon the top of their houses, others in the highest rooms, without meat or fire, until they were almost starved. The sluice at Thorne had like to have gone away, which if it had, it is thought that it would never have been laid again, because that the whole country would have petitioned against it, because it keeps the waters of of the Levels, for but for it they would be drowned as much as ever, so that it would be impossible for any to dwell thereon, and it is said of all hands that, if it had gone, all the whole country would have petitioned against its ever being built again, so that the Levels must have thereafter remained as it was before the drainage, a continual rendezvous of waters; and it is my belief that one time it will come to its ancient state again, which will be the ruin of all those that have land therein.

The waters upon the banks by Thorne that besides it overunning all over, and besides the aforesaid breach that it has broke eight or nine breaches in the said bank between Thorne and Goole, has driven away four rooms in New River’s great bridge, has broke all the banks and bridges of the whole country round about, sweeping all away before it. In Lincolnshire, the Trent, by the aforesaid melt of snow, has broke its banks near the town of Morton, hard by Gainsborough, and has driven allmost the whole town away, drowning several men, women, and children. The banks of Vickar’s Dyke and Dicken Dyke are also broken, bordering upon our Levels. In a word, the loss to the whole country hereabouts is above a million of pounds, besides what it does to the whole country round about out of our limits and circuits.

All the most oldest men that are says that it is the vastest flood that ever they saw or heard of.

779 words.