page_title: South Holland IDB
section_title: Modernisation
hierarchical_section_title: South Holland IDB / History / Modernisation
caption_attribution_description: English: Lawyers Sluice. Lawyers sluice. Draining the land water to the sea
context_page_description: South Holland IDB is an English internal drainage board set up under the terms of the Land Drainage Act 1930. It has responsibility for the land drainage of 148.43 square miles of low-lying land in South Lincolnshire. It is unusual as its catchment area is the same as the area of the drainage district, and so it does not have to deal with water flowing into the area from surrounding higher ground. No major rivers flow through the area, although the district is bounded by the River Welland to the west and the River Nene to the east.
  A ribbon either side of the route from Spalding to Sutton Bridge was populated in Roman times, and was again evident in the Domesday Book. Enclosing and reclamation of the salt marsh to the north of this area took place from the seventeenth century, and drainage was overseen by the Court of Sewers. In 1793, the South Holland Drainage District was set up by Act of Parliament, and carried out extensive drainage work, but the schemes were hampered by the state of the River Nene outfall. This was replaced in 1832, and allowed the district to lower their own sluice in 1852, to provide better gravity discharge.
context_section_description: In order to improve the gravity discharge of water from the district, the sluice into the River Nene at Peters Point was rebuilt in 1937. Its width was reduced slightly to 26 feet (7.92 m), but the cill was lowered to 10 feet (3.05 m) below Ordnance Datum. In order to cope with the silty sub-soil in which the foundations had to be built, well point dewatering equipment was used for the first time in England. This consists of inserting small tubes into the ground and pumping them with a high-efficiency vacuum pump to lower the ground water levels, creating a dry and stable working environment. The need to grow more food during the Second World War led to large areas of low-lying grassland being ploughed up for crops, and this required improved drainage. The Main Drain Improvement Scheme was drawn up in 1942, and widening and deeping of the Main Drain and other channels was carried out. Ten new bridges were required, to accommodate the wider channels, and old brick structures were demolished and replaced by open span bridges. Feeder drains were improved, and the area served by the drainage board increased to 63.28 square miles (163.9 km²).
  The first electric pumping station was erected at a new outfall for the Lawyers and Andersons districts in 1949, to be followed by several more. The Fleet Haven pumping station cost £21,793 and was completed in 1958/59, and in the same year, Dawsmere pumping station cost £33,868. Lord's Drain pumping station commenced operation in 1962. Sluices were also upgraded, with that on the Holbeach River being commissioned in 1955, and the Lutton Leam outfall sluice following in 1958/59. Despite the improvements, the Fleet Fen area was found to be at risk during flood periods, and a major upgrade, funded by the government, was completed in 1971. It included a new pumping station where the Main Drain and the Fleet River meet, and used submersible pumps for the first time in a land drainage scheme. Extremely heavy rainfall on 11 July 1968, when over 4.9 inches (125 mm) fell on Gedney in the early morning, demonstrated that still more work was required to prevent flooding. Run-off water from Spalding was diverted into the Coronation Channel, a flood-relief bypass for the River Welland, and Clay Lake pumping station was built in 1970, which handles the run-off, but can also be used to pump the adjacent fen when it is not doing so. Five additional pumping stations were built throughout the district. More than half of the area served by the IDB now depends on pumping stations, although most stations still have a gravity outfall, so that power failures or breakdowns are not disastrous. A further six pumping stations have been commissioned since 1974, the latest being brought on-line in July 2003 at Lawyers Sluice, to assist when the 1949-built structure is tidelocked.
caption: Lawyers Sluice, built in 1949, with the 2003 pumping station to the left
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