2014

TL4483 : Clouds in the water - The Ouse Washes near Mepal

taken 10 years ago, near to Wardy Hill, Cambridgeshire, England

Clouds in the water - The Ouse Washes near Mepal
Clouds in the water - The Ouse Washes near Mepal
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The Ouse Washes © Richard Humphrey

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.
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Creative Commons Licence [Some Rights Reserved]   © Copyright Richard Humphrey and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.
Geographical Context: Rivers, Streams, Drainage Primary Subject: Wetland other tags: River Drain Washland Ouse Washes Click a tag, to view other nearby images.
This photo is linked from: Articles: · Images shortlisted for POTY, 2014 Automatic Clusters: · Mepal [2] Other Photos: · Track along The Counter Wash - The Ouse Washes ·
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TL4483, 13 images   (more nearby 🔍)
Photographer
Richard Humphrey   (more nearby)
Date Taken
Tuesday, 3 June, 2014   (more nearby)
Submitted
Wednesday, 4 June, 2014
Subject Location
OSGB36: geotagged! TL 4498 8300 [10m precision]
WGS84: 52:25.5462N 0:7.8467E
Camera Location
OSGB36: geotagged! TL 4493 8304
View Direction
Southeast (about 135 degrees)
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Image classification(about): Geograph
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