THE ANCIENT FEN
W H Wheeler is his book A History of the Fens of South Lincolnshire describes the fens as they were at the end of the nineteenth century:
In the late summer or early autumn the Fenland roads and the wide drains are flanked on each side either by the golden waves of the ripening corn, moving gently in the breeze, and extending far away on the horizon, or by rich pasture fields, in which are grazing cattle and sheep of a quality and size indicative of the richness of the land on which they are reared. The whole, a picture of luxuriant nature, which justifies the remark of Cobbet, when he made his excursion through the Fenland, that "everything taken together, here are more good things than man could have the conscience to ask of God."
But it was not always like this. Wheeler explains:
The Fens were not always the paradise described by Henry of Huntingdon, for frequent floods and inundations caused great misery and loss to the inhabitants. Thus, on New Year's day in 1287, according to Stowe's Chronicle, "as well through the vehemency of the wind as the violence of the sea, the monasteries of Spalding and many churches were overthrown and destroyed. The whole of Holland, in Lincolnshire, was, for the most part, turned into a standing pool ; so that an intolerable multitude of men, women and children were overwhelmed with the water, especially the town of Boston, or Buttolph's town, a great part whereof was destroyed."
The duty of repairing the banks and sluices which protected the land from the inundations of the sea, and also of maintaining the channels of the watercourses in good order, devolved upon the several owners of the lands adjacent to the same, according to " ancient and approved customs," but no special authority existed for superintending such works, and insuring their maintenance in proper condition. There were, consequently, frequent floods and damage, caused by the neglect of the owners to maintain the banks and drains. Dugdale, in his history of embanking and draining, gives numerous extracts from the records of petitions to the King, by inhabitants of the Fens, who had thus suffered, praying for his interference. Such drainage as the Fens had at this time was by means of the natural streams, and the remains of the works carried out by the Romans.
The East and West Fens were flooded all the winter, the outlet for the drainage of the former being by Good Dyke into Wainfleet Haven.
THE COURT OF SEWERS
I D Rotherham in his book The Lost Fens notes:
In 1258 Parliament passed the first Land Drainage Act. It was this that established the Court of Sewers that, in following years, the court in Boston gave authority and recompense for drainage schemes.
Wheeler goes into more detail:
The continual complaints made to the Crown, as to the loss arising from the constant flooding of the land, led to the issuing of numerous Commissions, which had power to order such works to be done as they considered necessary for the commissions security of the Fenland, and to direct by whom the works were to be carried out, and to assess the mode of payment. These Commissions were renewed by succeeding sovereigns, till the time of Henry VIII, when an Act was passed, investing the Chancellor with perpetual authority to grant Commissions whenever they should be required. The ordinance recites, that “whereas formerly the marshes and low grounds had been, by politic wisdom, won and made profitable for the good of the commonwealth, and though divers provisions had formerly been made, yet none of them were sufficient remedy for the reformation thereof."
This Act, with others subsequently passed, constitutes the origin of the Court of Sewers, which now has control over the banks and sewers in all that part of the Fenland which has not been removed from its jurisdiction by special Acts of Parliament. After the establishment of the Court of Sewers, several efforts were made to improve the Fens, but, owing to the difficulty of arriving at a basis for the distribution of the payment of the cost of carrying out the works proposed, and the inability of the Court of Sewers to compel the payment of the taxes for the new works, no effectual scheme was carried out.
The Fenland, owing to the circumstances by which it is surrounded, has always had a large number of Freeholders. In the early days the district was a sort of no man's land, and little notice was taken of a Fenman who built himself a mud hut and enclosed a small island. After the Norman Conquest, grants were made to the King's followers of this part of Lincolnshire, in common with the rest of the country, but it was only in the higher part of the Fens that the grantees ever had any real possession of the land granted them. The monasteries, by means of grants made to them from time to time, and by land reclaimed and gradually annexed, became possessed of a considerable tract. These lands were afterwards alienated and distributed. Thus, the Fenland has never been dominated by any large territorial Owners.
However, life in the Toynton villages was certainly dominated by the manorial system. The 1614 Survey (as described in the previous section on enclosure) demonstrated that some land around the villages had already been enclosed. The remainder was Open Fields, the strip farming that is classic under the manorial system. The commoners were tied to their village and this continued for many generations. I therefore believe that the Ascoughs were settled there from the middle ages.
W H Wheeler is his book A History of the Fens of South Lincolnshire describes the fens as they were at the end of the nineteenth century:
In the late summer or early autumn the Fenland roads and the wide drains are flanked on each side either by the golden waves of the ripening corn, moving gently in the breeze, and extending far away on the horizon, or by rich pasture fields, in which are grazing cattle and sheep of a quality and size indicative of the richness of the land on which they are reared. The whole, a picture of luxuriant nature, which justifies the remark of Cobbet, when he made his excursion through the Fenland, that "everything taken together, here are more good things than man could have the conscience to ask of God."
But it was not always like this. Wheeler explains:
The Fens were not always the paradise described by Henry of Huntingdon, for frequent floods and inundations caused great misery and loss to the inhabitants. Thus, on New Year's day in 1287, according to Stowe's Chronicle, "as well through the vehemency of the wind as the violence of the sea, the monasteries of Spalding and many churches were overthrown and destroyed. The whole of Holland, in Lincolnshire, was, for the most part, turned into a standing pool ; so that an intolerable multitude of men, women and children were overwhelmed with the water, especially the town of Boston, or Buttolph's town, a great part whereof was destroyed."
The duty of repairing the banks and sluices which protected the land from the inundations of the sea, and also of maintaining the channels of the watercourses in good order, devolved upon the several owners of the lands adjacent to the same, according to " ancient and approved customs," but no special authority existed for superintending such works, and insuring their maintenance in proper condition. There were, consequently, frequent floods and damage, caused by the neglect of the owners to maintain the banks and drains. Dugdale, in his history of embanking and draining, gives numerous extracts from the records of petitions to the King, by inhabitants of the Fens, who had thus suffered, praying for his interference. Such drainage as the Fens had at this time was by means of the natural streams, and the remains of the works carried out by the Romans.
The East and West Fens were flooded all the winter, the outlet for the drainage of the former being by Good Dyke into Wainfleet Haven.
THE COURT OF SEWERS
I D Rotherham in his book The Lost Fens notes:
In 1258 Parliament passed the first Land Drainage Act. It was this that established the Court of Sewers that, in following years, the court in Boston gave authority and recompense for drainage schemes.
Wheeler goes into more detail:
The continual complaints made to the Crown, as to the loss arising from the constant flooding of the land, led to the issuing of numerous Commissions, which had power to order such works to be done as they considered necessary for the commissions security of the Fenland, and to direct by whom the works were to be carried out, and to assess the mode of payment. These Commissions were renewed by succeeding sovereigns, till the time of Henry VIII, when an Act was passed, investing the Chancellor with perpetual authority to grant Commissions whenever they should be required. The ordinance recites, that “whereas formerly the marshes and low grounds had been, by politic wisdom, won and made profitable for the good of the commonwealth, and though divers provisions had formerly been made, yet none of them were sufficient remedy for the reformation thereof."
This Act, with others subsequently passed, constitutes the origin of the Court of Sewers, which now has control over the banks and sewers in all that part of the Fenland which has not been removed from its jurisdiction by special Acts of Parliament. After the establishment of the Court of Sewers, several efforts were made to improve the Fens, but, owing to the difficulty of arriving at a basis for the distribution of the payment of the cost of carrying out the works proposed, and the inability of the Court of Sewers to compel the payment of the taxes for the new works, no effectual scheme was carried out.
The Fenland, owing to the circumstances by which it is surrounded, has always had a large number of Freeholders. In the early days the district was a sort of no man's land, and little notice was taken of a Fenman who built himself a mud hut and enclosed a small island. After the Norman Conquest, grants were made to the King's followers of this part of Lincolnshire, in common with the rest of the country, but it was only in the higher part of the Fens that the grantees ever had any real possession of the land granted them. The monasteries, by means of grants made to them from time to time, and by land reclaimed and gradually annexed, became possessed of a considerable tract. These lands were afterwards alienated and distributed. Thus, the Fenland has never been dominated by any large territorial Owners.
However, life in the Toynton villages was certainly dominated by the manorial system. The 1614 Survey (as described in the previous section on enclosure) demonstrated that some land around the villages had already been enclosed. The remainder was Open Fields, the strip farming that is classic under the manorial system. The commoners were tied to their village and this continued for many generations. I therefore believe that the Ascoughs were settled there from the middle ages.