Shared description

Witham Navigable Drains

The origin of the group of navigable drains in the fens to the north of Boston lies in the Acts of Parliament passed in 1801 and 1803 to enable improvements to the drainage in the area. Navigation was a critical element of the scheme as it allowed the easy transport of agricultural goods out of the area, and in particular coal to be brought in. The engineer for the whole scheme was the noted civil engineer John Rennie, and a significant number of his works, particularly bridges, remain largely unaltered, the majority being Listed Grade II.

The principal outlets, into the tidal Haven below Boston were the Maud Foster and Hobhole Sluices. Initially all drainage was by gravity through gates, but the need to reduce water levels in the northern part of the fens led to the construction of the Lade Bank Pumping Station in 1867. A lock was provided to enable navigation to be maintained.

Mechanical pumping was progressively introduced and then modernised to increase the volume of pumping and maintain optimum water levels. One effect of this was the closure of the lock at Lade Bank. Combined with the closure of East Fen Lock, this resulted in the isolation of the southern section of the Hobhole Drain from the remainder of the network.

Today, navigation is variable, depending on water levels and the extent of clearing of weed on smaller drains in particular. Water levels are kept lower during winter than summer. This ensures maximum winter capacity during periods of higher rainfall, and equally maintains a higher water table during summer as well as providing a reservoir for irrigation. Access is from the River Witham at Anton's Gowt Lock.

The Witham Navigable Drains are well covered by the Wikipedia article LinkExternal link.
by Alan Murray-Rust

Created: Tue, 25 Nov 2014, Updated: Wed, 15 Jul 2015


9 images use this description:

TF3857 : Remains of the railway bridge over the Hobhole Drain, Midville by Alan Murray-Rust
TF3754 : Lade Bank Pumping Station by Alan Murray-Rust
TF3751 : Hodson's Bridge by Alan Murray-Rust
TF3858 : Bell Water Drain by Alan Murray-Rust
TF3752 : Railway bridge over the Hobhole Drain at Old Leake by Alan Murray-Rust
TF3858 : Bell Water Drain Bridge by Alan Murray-Rust
TF3751 : Hobhole Drain Bridge No.9 by Alan Murray-Rust
TF3752 : Hobhole Drain by Alan Murray-Rust
TF3754 : Lade Bank Pumping Station by Alan Murray-Rust


Shared descriptions

This shared description

The 'Shared Description' text on this page is © copyright 2014 Alan Murray-Rust.

Shared descriptions are specifically licensed so that contributors can reuse them on their own images, without restriction.

About shared descriptions

These Shared Descriptions are common to multiple images.

For example, you can create a generic description for an object shown in a photo, and reuse the description on all photos of the object. All descriptions are public and shared between contributors, i.e. you can reuse a description created by others, just as they can use yours.

Explore images

View images using this "Witham Navigable Drains" Shared Description

View images mentioning the words [Witham Navigable Drains] anywhere in text

Other shared descriptions

Related descriptions

The above selections are automatic and approximate, it might not always select closely matching descriptions


You are not logged in | login | register