2014

TL4784 : Dike on The Ouse Washes near Welches Dam

taken 10 years ago, near to Welches Dam, Cambridgeshire, England

Dike on The Ouse Washes near Welches Dam
Dike on The Ouse Washes near Welches Dam
The Ouse Washes, also known as The Hundred Foot Washes, is an area of grassland (washland) that can be deliberately flooded lying between the Old and New Bedford Rivers. These rivers are derived from the River Great Ouse, a major tributary of East Anglia's Wash. They were dug in the 16th & 17th centuries as part of a programme to drain The Fens of floodwater for agriculture. In 1630, King Charles I granted a drainage charter to the 4th Earl of Bedford who engaged the Dutch engineer Cornelius Vermuyden to construct the two Bedford rivers. The purpose of the new rivers was to facilitate drainage of the River Great Ouse between Earith and Downham Market.
The New Bedford River flows through the entire length of the washland and The River Delph flows through the washes either side of Welney. The flood waters are contained between 2 parallel embankments - The Old Bedford Barrier Bank and the Hundred Foot Bank - and the area between the banks is approximately 20 miles long and half a mile wide in places. It is permanent grassland and used for livestock grazing when not flooded and acts as washland or flood reservoir allowing the flow of water to the sea to be contained and released in a controlled way during the winter and occasionally in summer.
Please visit LinkExternal link for more information.

See other images of The Ouse Washes © Richard Humphrey

Creative Commons Licence [Some Rights Reserved]   © Copyright Richard Humphrey and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.
Geographical Context: Rivers, Streams, Drainage other tags: Ouse Washes Copse River Washland Dike Click a tag, to view other nearby images.
This photo is linked from: Automatic Clusters: · Bank of the Ouse Washes [7] · Near [2] ·
1:50,000 Modern Day Landranger(TM) Map © Crown Copyright
+
+
1:50,000 Modern Day Landranger(TM) Map © Crown Copyright
TIP: Click the map for more Large scale mapping
Grid Square
TL4784, 22 images   (more nearby 🔍)
Photographer
Richard Humphrey   (more nearby)
Date Taken
Thursday, 10 April, 2014   (more nearby)
Submitted
Thursday, 10 April, 2014
Subject Location
OSGB36: geotagged! TL 4735 8487 [10m precision]
WGS84: 52:26.5162N 0:9.9858E
Camera Location
OSGB36: geotagged! TL 4742 8482
View Direction
Northwest (about 315 degrees)
Clickable map
+
NW N NE
W Go E
SW S SE
Image classification(about): Geograph
This page has been viewed about 38 times
You are not logged in login | register