The Sun.
London, England, 1862-10-07 00:00:00

71IE MARSHLAND FEN SLUICE

KING'S LYNN, SUNDAY NIGHT.
The excitement occasioned by the banks of this
sluice havigg, " blown-up," has been very great, and
not without reason, as the entrance of the tides into
the drain is likely to lead to an inundation as great
or greater than that caused by the failure of the
Middle Level bank; and, further, should the efforts
to construct a dam across the drain be successful,
the Marshland, Smeeth, and Fen will be altogether
deprived of an efficient outlet for its waters during
the approaching winter. The news of the disaster
having got widely circulated, people of all classes
flocked in crowds from Lynn, Terrington, Tilney,
Wisbeach, and in short all parts of the surrounding
country, and by three o'clock this afternoon not less
than 3,000 were assembled, and anxiously watch-
ing the progress of the defensive works. Several
hundreds of sacks laden with earth and clay from
the adjacent banks were rapidly tipped from the
bridge into the drain to form a temporary dam, and
by four o'clock the heap reached to the crown of
the arch. Additions were still made to it to
strengthen it against the advancing tide, and some
hopes were entertained of success; but at about a
quarter-past four (high water being at six o'clock),
with very little warning, the dam gave way bodily,
and the entire mass having been carried some score
of yards up the drain, was then disintegrated, and
sank out of sight. The tidal water having thus
overcome the obstacle, went with a rush and a roar
on its work of devastation, carrying with it great
quantities of earth, as well as a number of trees
which had been just cut down, and laid on the bank
for future use. Before destroying the dam the tide
had made an easy prey of the cradge bank
con-
structed in the morning between the two drains,
and poured over in a cataract of a hundred yards in
width into the Marshland sewer.

Thus another item of theparallelism between this
disaster and that of the Middle Level has been com-
pleted. Tne cause of both was the same, the barrier
formed by the sluice failed in precisely the same
way in the latter as in the former instance, the
attempts to raise a fortification against the tide have
once more been abortive, and the water is flowing
over the banks upon some of the very same lands
which had just been recovered from the former in-
undation. One great point of difference is that the
Smeeth and Fen drain is much narrower than the
Middle Level Drain ; and another is that the lands
subject to inundation from it have their outlet
through this drain, whereas in May last they were
drowned from the failure of a drain which at no
time was of any benefit to them. It should be men-
tioned that the sluice which has just failed, and
that of the adjoining Marshland Sewer, though
smaller than that of the late Middle Level Sluice
(having each but one arch instead of three) were
constructed in very nearly the same way. The
main structure is a bridge, strongly built of brick
and stone, with its abutments prolonged on both
sides to form flank walls or wings for the support
of the adjoining banks ; and having between them
a pair of heavy doors or valves opening outwards to
let out the drainage water on the ebb tide, and
closing again of themselves on the flood to prevent
any return. Besides these doors each sluice is fur-
nished on the inner side with a "slacker," or door,
working in perpendicular grooves, and having
above a rack and pinion apparatus to regulate the
quantity of water discharged, and to stop its emis-
sion altogether if necessary in dry seasons.

MONDAY AFTERNOON.

The second Marshland deluge has set in in earnest.
The lands flooded by last night's and this morning's
tide already amount to fully 1,000 acres, of which
some 50 acres are in Marshland proper, the so-called
highland, which had fortunately escaped the former
inundation, and has rarely, for centuries past,
been subject to such misfortunes. At present the
sluice still stands, but its walls are very seriously
cracked from top to bottom, and large portions of
the foundations are washed away. The gap which
the water has made for itself in the southern bank
is now 50 yards in length and half as much in
depth, and the precipitous sides of this gulf fall
away at intervals in large masses. The northern
bank is also extensively fissured, and behind the
outer wing wall on this side is a large conicie hol-
low, like the vortex of a whirlpool, in which the
earth continually sinks, proving that the water has
undermined the foundations beneath, and that if
the sluice does not shortly fall, it will become quite
detached, standing between two chasms, or rather
forming a solitary mass in the centre of a wide and
powerful torrent. Near the sluice has overflowed
the central bank between it and the great Marsh-
land Sewer, and also the northern bank of the
latter upon the farm of Mr. Peck (opposite St.
Mary's Hall) in Marshland, to the extent of 49 or
50 acres. Running up the Marshland sewer, it
has filled the internal drains to overflowing in
various places, and in particular has flooded the
stack yard of Mr. Robert Coe, at Islington, and
came within a few yards of his door. (Mr. Coe
was a severe sufferer by the former flood.) Higher
up the country, in Broad Short Fens, about 600
acres, in the occupation of Mr. Little, Mr. Robert
Coe, and others have become drowned, together
with 300 or 400 acres more, in Marshland Fen,
principally occupied by Messrs. John Markham,
Little, Whiteman, Hubbard, Neap, &c. The water
has also been on the high lands of Bladik (or Black
Dike) Level, in Marshland, to the extent of nearly
200 acres. These quantities must be increased at
every tide, unless an effectual dam is made, as the
springs will rise one or two feet between now and
Friday, when they will be at their highest.
The prospect for the occupants of the
whole district is indeed terrible, and many of
them (not an hour too soon) are making prepa-
rations for flight by removing furniture,
thrashing out corn, &c. Several houses, mostly
of
cottages, are already invaded by the flood—those
Mr. Robert Coe's tenants, for instance, being two
feet under water. The banks of both the Fen
drain and the great sewer are already much injured
by the scour through them, and are caving in in
several places. In two or three instances near the
sluices, portions of cottage gardens, with their crops
stream,p
of vegetables, have slid down into the rushing
oatnadtotahnedp
otheroo r people
cro p s areto hastilyrease
wdigginghat theyu p
their
can before they are wholly drowned out or deprived
of a home by the impending destruction of their
humble dwellings.
The sack dam at St. Mary's brick-bridge having
failed, Mr. Harding is now commencing the con-
struction of a pile-dam at the same place, for which
purpose the remaining portion of the
is being cleared away,
h and large quantities of tim-
ber are being brought
of the Marsdantdup from Lynn. At a meet-
ingSmeeth, and Fen commis-
sioners this morning Sir John Rennie and Mr. Mur-
ray, C.E. (who had been making investigations in
connection with the pending
were suits against the Mid-
dle Level commissioners)
called in, and under
their advice the banks on both sides are being ex-
tensively raised. A dam of sheet piling
is to be
made about a mile and a half up the drain (just
below the junction sluice,
between it and the
Marshland sewer), and a permanentdam
struck at about 100 yards above the broken sluice.
Between these two dams Mr. Harding's will inter-
vene, and thus there will be three successive bar-
riers against the tide. if all these
operations
are
successful the sea water will not penetrate into
either of the drains, and the danger foi the present
will be at an end, but very much must be done to
achieve this greatly longed-for and hardly anti-
cipated result. In the meantime all farm-
ing operations must be at astand-still ; the re-
cently recovered lands, which have nearly all been
ploughed, cannot be sown, and thus another season
will most probably be lost to these unfortunate
people.
mention that the
It may not be uninteresting to