| Description | In 1645, Sir William Russell, Earl of Bedford, together with some of the original Adventurers and other interested parties (known as the Participants) petitioned for a new Act of Parliament to be enacted for the draining of the Great Level. "The Pretended Act" was passed by Parliament in 1649, and decreed that Sir William Russell, Earl of Bedford, the original Adventurers and the Participants were now the Undertakers for draining the Great Level of the Fens. They agreed to complete this before October 1656, and that all land was to be "winter ground" without prejudicing the navigation of the rivers. They called themselves the Bedford Level Company or the Society of Adventurers, and established an office in the Lord Chief Justice’s chambers.
After almost a year of negotiations between the Society of Adventurers, Cornelius Vermuyden and Edward Partheriche, Cornelius Vermuyden was appointed as the Director of Works to the drainage scheme (see BLC/1/2/2). The earlier drainage works created during the '"First Undertaking"' works were scoured and restored. The principal new works carried out during this phase include the New Bedford River (or the Hundred Foot River); St John's Eau (or Downham Eau), between Denver Sluice to Stow Bridge; Tong’s Drain between Nordelph and the River Ouse below Downham Bridge; Moore’s Drain (or Twenty Foot Drain); the Forty Foot Drain (or Vermuyden’s Drain), between Ramsey and Welches Dam; Stonea Drain near March, Thurlow’s Drain (or Sixteen Foot Drain), between Popham’s Eau to the Forty Foot Drain and Conquest Lode. When local labour became scarce (due to a lack of funds to pay wages), prisoners of war from the Battle of Dunbar and the Battle of Goodwin Sands were used instead.
In 1651, a Warrant of Adjudication was given at Peterborough ('"Peterborough Law"', see also BLC/1/2/4), which confirmed that the North and Middle Levels had been satisfactorily drained according to the intent and meaning of the '"Pretended Act"'. It had already cost them £170,000. They then started draining the South Level. A second Warrant of Adjudication was given at Ely in 1652, which confirmed that the South Level had been also satisfactorily drained (see also BLC1/2/5). In consequence of these two Warrants of Adjudication, the 95,000 acres of newly drained '"Adventurers"' lands were alloted to the Adventurers and Participants.
With the draining of the Great Level of the Fens complete, the Society of Adventurers turned their attention towards the creation of new legislation to preserve the drainage works [in the Bedford Level], and to give powers and rights to the Society for maintaining them. An Ordinance was enacted in 1657, which acknowledged the satisfactory drainage of the Great Level and made the Earl of Bedford, the original Adventurers and the later Participants responsible for the maintenance of the drainage works [in the Bedford Level]. Following the restoration of Charles II, the Society of Adventurers entered into a period of uncertainty. All laws made during the Commonwealth were declared null and void, the King's 12,000 acres (as compensation for Charles I's work as the Undertaker during the 1640s) had not yet been alloted and some of the Adventurers and Participants had been ejected from their lands, which led to disputes about the distribution of lands. A temporary maintenance Act was passed in September 1660, which gave the Earl of Bedford sufficient time to reconcile all the [opposing] parties. A second temporary Act was passed in January 1661, as the Earl of Bedford was not yet in a suitable position to introduce a general drainage Bill. An Act of Parliament (see BLC/1/2/16) was finally enacted in July 1663, and established the Bedford Level Corporation as a corporate body. It also granted the Corporation powers to levy a tax on all 95,000 acres of Adventurers' lands, vested 83,000 acres [of Adventurers' lands] in the Corporation, and defined the duties of the Corporation. |