1.
River Great Ouse
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The River Great Ouse is a river in the United Kingdom, the longest of several British rivers called Ouse. From Syresham in central England, the Great Ouse flows into East Anglia before entering the Wash, with a course of 143 miles, mostly flowing north and east, it is the one of the longest rivers in the United Kingdom. Its lower course passes through drained wetlands and fens and has been modified, or channelised, to relieve flooding. Though the unmodified river probably changed course regularly after floods, it now enters the Wash after passing through the port of Kings Lynn, the name Ouse is from the Celtic or pre-Celtic *Udso-s, and probably means simply water or slow flowing river. The lower reaches of the Great Ouse are also known as Old West River and the Ely Ouse, the river has several sources close to the village of Syresham in Northamptonshire. It flows through Brackley and into Buckinghamshire, through Buckingham, Milton Keynes at Stony Stratford, Newport Pagnell, Olney and Kempston in Bedfordshire, passing through Bedford, in to Cambridgeshire through St Neots, Godmanchester, Huntingdon, Hemingford Grey and St Ives, it reaches Earith. Here, the river enters a tidal section before branching in two. The artificial, very straight Old Bedford River and New Bedford River, the old course of the river passes through Hermitage Lock into the Old West River. After joining the Cam near Little Thetford, north of Cambridge, below Denver the river is tidal and passes Downham Market to enter The Wash at Kings Lynn. The river is navigable from the Wash to Kempston Mill, just beyond Bedford and this section includes 17 locks which are maintained by the Environment Agency, which is the navigation authority and who attempt to attract more boaters to the river. It has a catchment area of 3,240 square miles and its course has been modified several times, with the first recorded being in 1236, as a result of flooding. During the 1600s, the Old Bedford and New Bedford Rivers were built to provide a route for the water to reach the sea. In the 20th century, construction of the Cut-Off Channel and the Great Ouse Relief Channel have further altered water flows in the region, improvements to assist navigation began in 1618, with the construction of sluices and locks. Bedford could be reached by river from 1689, a major feature was the sluice at Denver, which failed in 1713, but was rebuilt by 1750 after the problem of flooding returned. Kings Lynn, at the mouth of the river, developed as a port, with the coming of the railways the state of the river declined so that it was unsuitable either for navigation or for drainage. The navigation was declared to be derelict in the 1870s, a repeated problem was the number of authorities responsible for different aspects of the river. The Drainage Board created in 1918 had no powers to address navigation issues, when the Great Ouse Catchment Board was created under the powers of the Land Drainage Act in 1930, effective action could at last be taken. There was significant sugar beet traffic on the river between 1925 and 1959, with the last known commercial traffic occurring in 1974
2.
Middle Level Navigations
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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, 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, Whittlesey Mere, the last remaining lake, was drained soon afterwards, using one of the first applications of John Appolds 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, the last regular commercial traffic was the tanker barge Shellfen, which delivered fuel oil to pumping stations until 1971. Its capacity was increased in 1951, and again in 1969/70, 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, much of the drainage of the Middle Levels relies on pumping, and the Commissioners manage over 100 pumping stations throughout the area. Since then, locks have been lengthened, to access by modern narrowboats, as they were built for Fen Lighters. 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. The Middle Levels of the Fens are an area of approximately 270 square miles. Attempts to protect them from inundation and to make suitable for agriculture began in 1480. This provided the waters of the River Nene with a direct route to the sea than the previous route through Benwick, Floods Ferry, March, Outwell. Mortons Leam, the given to the medieval drainage ditch, was 40 feet wide and 4 feet deep. 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 21 miles, 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, 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. 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, 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 old pence per ton on goods entering the system through either of the sluices
3.
Bedford
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Bedford is the county town of Bedfordshire, England. It had a population of 166,252 in 2015 together with Kempston, Bedford was founded at a ford on the River Great Ouse, and is thought to have been the burial place of Offa of Mercia. Bedford Castle was built by Henry I, although it was destroyed in 1224, Bedford was granted borough status in 1165 and has been represented in Parliament since 1265. It is well known for its population of Italian descent. Bedford is on the Midland Main Line, with stopping services to London and Brighton operated by Thameslink, and express services to London and the East Midlands operated by East Midlands Trains. The name of the town is thought to derive from the name of a Saxon chief called Beda, and a ford crossing the River Great Ouse. Bedford was a town for the surrounding agricultural region from the early Middle Ages The Anglo-Saxon King Offa of Mercia was buried in the town in 796. In 886 it became a boundary town separating Wessex and Danelaw and it was the seat of the Barony of Bedford. In 919 Edward the Elder built the towns first known fortress, on the side of the River Great Ouse. This fortress was destroyed by the Danes, William II gave the barony of Bedford to Paine de Beauchamp who built a new, strong castle. Bedford traces its borough charter in 1166 by Henry II and elected two members to the unreformed House of Commons and it remained a small agricultural town, with wool being an important industry in the area for much of the Middle Ages. The new Bedford Castle was razed in 1224 and today only a mound remains, in 1660 John Bunyan was imprisoned for 12 years in Bedford Gaol. It was here that he wrote The Pilgrims Progress, the River Great Ouse became navigable as far as Bedford in 1689. Wool declined in importance with brewing becoming an industry in the town. The 19th century saw Bedford transform into an important engineering hub, in 1832 gas lighting was introduced, and the railway reached Bedford in 1846. The first corn exchange was built 1849, and the first drains, Bedford is the largest settlement in Borough of Bedford. The borough council is led by an elected mayor who holds the title Mayor of Bedford. The current Mayor of Bedford is Dave Hodgson from the Liberal Democrat Party, Bedford itself is divided into 10 wards, Brickhill, Castle, Cauldwell, De Parys, Goldington, Harpur, Kingsbrook, Newnham, Putnoe and Queens Park
4.
The Fens
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The Fens, also known as the Fenland, is a naturally marshy region in eastern England. Most of the fens were drained several centuries ago, resulting in a flat, dry and it is one of the driest areas in England, thanks to a system of drainage channels and man-made rivers and automated pumping stations. A common misconception is that the fens are damp, in whole it occupies an area of nearly 1,500 sq mi. Most of the Fenland lies within a few metres of sea level, with the support of this drainage system, the Fenland has become a major arable agricultural region in Britain for grains and vegetables. The Fens are particularly fertile, containing 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 monasteries, now churches and cathedrals, of Crowland, Ely, Peterborough. Other significant settlements in the Fens include Boston, Cambridge, Spalding, the Fens are very low-lying compared with the chalk and limestone uplands that surround them – in most places no more than 10 m above sea level. Indeed, as a result of drainage and the subsequent shrinkage of the peat fens, within the Fens there 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 the fen-islands is the Isle of Ely, on which the city of Ely was built. Some areas of the Fens were once permanently flooded, creating small lakes or meres, 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 southern England, drainage in the Fenland consists of both river drainage and internal drainage of 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, in the 17th century, the Great Level was divided into the North, Middle and South Levels for the purposes of administration and maintenance. In the 20th century, these levels have gained new boundaries, the South Level lies to the southeast of the Ouse Washes and surrounds Ely, as it did in the 17th century. The Middle Level currently lies between the Ouse Washes and the Nene, but historically lay between the Ouse Washes and Mortons Leam, a 15th-century canal which runs north of the town of Whittlesey. Deeping Fen, in the part of Lincolnshire, lies between the River Welland and the River Glen with its tributary the Bourne Eau. The Black Sluice District, much of which was known as the Lindsey Level when it was first drained in 1639, extends from the Glen and its water is carried through to the Haven at Boston. The above were all redrained at one time or another after the Civil War, 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 the part of eastern England flowed into the Rhine
5.
Charles I of England
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Charles I was monarch of the three kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649. Charles was the son of King James VI of Scotland, but after his father inherited the English throne in 1603, he moved to England. He became heir apparent to the English, Irish, and Scottish thrones on the death of his brother, Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales. Two years later, he married the Bourbon princess Henrietta Maria of France instead, after his succession, Charles quarrelled with the Parliament of England, which sought to curb his royal prerogative. Charles believed in the right of kings and thought he could govern according to his own conscience. Many of his subjects opposed his policies, in particular the levying of taxes without parliamentary consent and he supported high church ecclesiastics, such as Richard Montagu and William Laud, and failed to aid Protestant forces successfully during the Thirty Years War. From 1642, Charles fought the armies of the English and Scottish parliaments in the English Civil War, after his defeat in 1645, he surrendered to a Scottish force that eventually handed him over to the English Parliament. Charles refused to accept his captors demands for a constitutional monarchy, re-imprisoned on the Isle of Wight, Charles forged an alliance with Scotland, but by the end of 1648 Oliver Cromwells New Model Army had consolidated its control over England. Charles was tried, convicted, and executed for treason in January 1649. The monarchy was abolished and a called the Commonwealth of England was declared. The monarchy was restored to Charless son, Charles II, in 1660, the second son of King James VI of Scotland and Anne of Denmark, Charles was born in Dunfermline Palace, Fife, on 19 November 1600. James VI was the first cousin twice removed of Queen Elizabeth I of England, in mid-July 1604, Charles left Dunfermline for England where he was to spend most of the rest of his life. His speech development was slow, and he retained a stammer, or hesitant speech. In January 1605, Charles was created Duke of York, as is customary in the case of the English sovereigns second son, Thomas Murray, a Presbyterian Scot, was appointed as a tutor. Charles learnt the usual subjects of classics, languages, mathematics, in 1611, he was made a Knight of the Garter. Eventually, Charles apparently conquered his physical infirmity, which might have been caused by rickets and he became an adept horseman and marksman, and took up fencing. Even so, his public profile remained low in contrast to that of his stronger and taller elder brother, Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales. However, in early November 1612, Henry died at the age of 18 of what is suspected to have been typhoid, Charles, who turned 12 two weeks later, became heir apparent
6.
Lock (water navigation)
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A lock is a device used for raising and lowering boats, ships and other watercraft between stretches of water of different levels on river and canal waterways. Locks are used to make a more easily navigable, or to allow a canal to cross land that is not level. Later canals used more and larger locks to allow a direct route to be taken. Since 2016 the largest lock worldwide is the Kieldrecht Lock in the Port of Antwerp, a pound lock is a type of lock that is used almost exclusively nowadays on canals and rivers. A pound lock has a chamber with gates at both ends that control the level of water in the pound, in contrast, an earlier design with a single gate was known as a flash lock. Pound locks were first used in medieval China during the Song Dynasty, having been pioneered by the government official and engineer Qiao Weiyue in 984. The gates were hanging gates, when they were closed the water accumulated like a tide until the level was reached. The water level could differ by 4 feet or 5 feet at each lock, in medieval Europe a sort of pound lock was built in 1373 at Vreeswijk, Netherlands. This pound lock serviced many ships at once in a large basin, yet the first true pound lock was built in 1396 at Damme near Bruges, Belgium. A famous civil engineer of pound locks in Europe was the Italian Bertola da Novate, who constructed 18 of them on the Naviglio di Bereguardo between the years 1452 and 1458. When a stretch of river is navigable, a lock is sometimes required to bypass an obstruction such as a rapid, dam. In large scale river navigation improvements, weirs and locks are used together, a river improved by these means is often called a Waterway or River Navigation. Sometimes a river is made entirely non-tidal by constructing a sea lock directly into the estuary, in more advanced river navigations, more locks are required. Where a longer cut bypasses a stretch of river, the upstream end of the cut will often be protected by a flood lock. The longer the cut, the greater the difference in level between start and end of the cut, so that a very long cut will need additional locks along its length. At this point, the cut is, in effect, a canal, Early completely artificial canals, across fairly flat countryside, would get round a small hill or depression by simply detouring around it. However, locks continued to be built to supplement these solutions, all pound locks have three elements, A watertight chamber connecting the upper and lower canals, and large enough to enclose one or more boats. The position of the chamber is fixed, but its level can vary
