February 27, 2025

24th May 1626

On May 24th, 1626, Cornelius Vermuyden, a Dutch engineer, entered into a contract with King Charles I to drain the vast wetlands of Hatfield Chase and the Isle of Axholme, areas in northern England prone to frequent flooding. Vermuyden was tasked with reclaiming these lands for agricultural use by creating a network of drainage channels and improving the local waterways....

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April 23, 2026

Vermuyden’ Subsidiary Works – The Dutch River

Flooding at Fishlake & Sykehouse — The Price of Imperfection Even as these new works were rising, serious problems were emerging elsewhere in the drainage system. The diversion of the River Don northward into the Aire had unintended consequences for the settlements along its banks, and the villages of Fishlake and Sykehouse suffered severe flooding as a direct result of Vermuyden’s works...

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April 9, 2026

Vermuyden’s Subsidiary Drainage Works – sasses and sluices.

1629 – Court of Sewers appointed In 1629, the Crown appointed a new Court of Sewers to oversee the “Level of Hatfield Chase,” a move intended to mark the completion of Cornelius Vermuyden’s great drainage project. This court was charged with maintaining the new network of drains, banks, and sluices that had reshaped the wetlands and opened large areas to...

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April 2, 2026

Vermuyden’s Drainage Scheme – Phase 2

Draining the Levels – Vermuyden’s Second Phase (1628-1631) By 1627, just two years after Cornelius Vermuyden and King Charles I had signed their fateful contract, Vermuyden reported that the first phase of drainage works was completed so that a commission could be appointed to allot the land and commence its work. The 1627 Commission was appointed to begin the process...

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March 20, 2026

Vermuyden’s Drainage Scheme – The River Torne

The River Torne presented a significant challenge to the drainage of the Isle of Axholme. Its original course ran from the west, around Wroot, to the River Idle at Ben Intake (a location now known as Tunnel Pits). Unlike the Don and the Idle, it was not possible to divert the Torne along an existing watercourse, meaning it had to...

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March 12, 2026

Vermuyden’s Drainage Scheme – Phase 1 – Drainage of Hatfield Chase – 1626-1628

The first phase of Cornelius Vermuyden’s works took place between 1626 and 1628

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March 6, 2026

Crowle – Fisheries 1372

Axholme before Vermuyden The fisheries on the River Don at Crowle were an important feature of the landscape as evidenced in the Domesday Book, which reported 31 fisheries in Crowle, more than any other town in Lincolnshire. The Coucher Book of Selby is a fourteenth-century cartulary — a register of charters and deeds — that chronicles the history of Selby...

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February 26, 2026

Vermuyden’s’General Rule of Drayning‘

Cornelius Vermuyden’s “General Rule of Draining,” is detailed in his 1642 work A Discourse Touching the Drayning of the Great Fennes, was a foundational approach to large-scale land reclamation in 17th-century England.  Although this paper was written after Vermuyden had left Hatfield Chase and the Isle of Axholme and was focused on the Great Level in Cambridgeshire, it shows Vermuyden’s approach...

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February 12, 2026

How Vermuyden Financed the Hatfield Chase Drainage

After agreeing with Charles I to drain the Isle of Axholme & Hatfield Chase, Cornelius Vermuyden had to work out how to finance his drainage scheme. The drainage scheme was funded by the sale of Vermuyden’s land to a number of partners, known as Participants. Most of the earliest Participants were Dutch. Among Vermuyden’s associates, three networks can be discerned:...

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February 5, 2026

1626 Agreement between Charles I and Cornelius Vermuyden to Drain the Isle of Axholme and Hatfield Chase

The full agreement may be read here After the James I, commission of 1622, Vermuyden obviously investigated the feasibility of draining the Isle of Axholme and Hatfield Chase and declared himself prepared to undertake the drainage. However, in 1625, James I died and Charles I succeeded to the throne. On 24th May 1626, the second year of Charles’ reign, an...

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January 29, 2026

The Royal Commission on Hatfield Chase in 1622

In 1622 James I appointed a royal commission to inquire into the condition and governance of Hatfield Chase, then a flooded and largely unproductive royal hunting ground. The commissioners were instructed to survey the Chase, examine the causes of its persistent inundation, and report on the feasibility and profitability of large‑scale drainage and improvement. The Commission described the Isle of...

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