Norfolk Heritage Explorer

Location

Full description

Made in 1821 northwards from TF 590 150 to remove the bend in the Great Ouse.
Extended northwards in 1853 by the Norfolk Estuary Company, banks being built out into the Wash itself to reclaim land.

From 1794 onwards, landowners exerted pressure to dig a canal to drain 300,000 acres and to alleviate the dangers posed by navigation of the shallow bend in the River Ouse. An Act was obtained in 1795 for improving the drainage of the Middle and South Levels by altering the course of the Ouse from the Eau Brink, in the parish of Wiggenhall St Mary's, to the upper part of the harbour at King's Lynn. The proposed cut was to be 370 feet from bank to bank, gradually widening to 278 yards. The eastern bank was to be 60 ft in breadth and the western 80 ft. A good bridge with five openings each measuring not less than 40 feet was to be constructed near the North Sea Bank. Commissioners were appointed to borrow money to purchase land and compensate the owners. The Act had to be renewed several times as progress was so slow. The engineer who oversaw the work was John Rennie, and the work was undertaken by Messrs. Jolliffe and Banks. The total cost of the scheme was in excess of £500,000. The Cut opened on 31 July 1821 when the Swiftsure, a steam packet from Gravesend passed to the upper end, at the head of a long line of richly decorated boats.
There was considerable resistance to this project from many of the wealthier inhabitants of Lynn, and compensation was claimed from the Commission by merchants whose trade had been affected by the removal of the channel to a greater distance from their premises.
Information from (S1).
A. Cattermole (King's Lynn UAD), 24 July 2019.

Monument Types

• WATER CHANNEL (19th Century to 21st Century - 1821 AD to 2100 AD)

Associated Finds - none

Protected Status

• SHINE

Sources and further reading

Related records - none