HISTORY OF DECOYS. | |
| A difference of a few feet in the level of this vast extent of country would cause the waters of the ocean once more to cover the whole tract. That this extensive "level" in bygone ages formed part of the bed of the Wash, from which it was raised by a gradual process of silting, its geological structure plainly shows, and the same process is still adding largely to the dry land along the sea-shore. But that this process has been frequently interrupted the presence of buried forests imbedded in the peat also clearly shows. All this, of course, was prehistoric, but we can easily imagine that before any attempt at artificial drainage altered the face of the country, the whole plain would present the appearance of one great sedge-covered tract, intersected with sheets of open water, vastly more extensive in winter, and studded here and there with drier spots or hills, densely covered with thickets of alder and willow, with perhaps occasional spots, more elevated still, bearing a growth of timber trees. In addition to the influx of water from the sea, this low-lying tract was subject to constant flooding from the up-country which surrounded it, and probably one of the first difficulties experienced in attempting any system of drainage was, as now, the solution of the problem how to dispose of these inland waters. The first attempts at drainage attributed to the Romans appear to have been restricted to shutting out the waters of the ocean by means of sea-walls, but it must soon have been discovered that much more than this was required, and attention was doubtless directed to restraining the rivers within due bounds, and here the dead level of the country would form the chief obstacle. However, gradual success at length rewarded unceasing labour, and although the Isle of Ely was still a veritable island that could only be reached by boats or over the ice in winter, and much of the country could only be travelled on stilts, some progress was made. From the early records of the efforts made to reclaim portions of the Fens some curious glimpses of the country and its inhabitants in Saxon times are afforded, and later, the records of disasters, and the remedies applied, show the fragmentary nature of the attempts to conquer the too abundant waters. At length works on a large scale for the better drainage of this immense extent of waste were undertaken by Morton Bishop of Ely, in the reign of Henry VII. | |
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