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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January 17, 2026

Before Vermuyden: Drainage and River Management in the Isle of Axholme

Long before Cornelius Vermuyden arrived in the 1620s with his grand Dutch-engineered drainage scheme, the Isle of Axholme was already a landscape shaped by centuries of human effort to manage water. The Isle’s rivers, meres, and artificial channels were central to life, economy, and identity — and the people who lived here developed sophisticated systems of communal and manorial governance...
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January 2, 2026

Axholme Before Vermuyden – The Land and Its Lords – Manor of Crowle

Manor of Crowle The Domesday Record At the time of the Conquest, Crowle was the most populous and valuable manor in the Isle of Axholme. The Domesday Book recorded impressive resources: fifteen villagers and nineteen bordars working seven ploughs, thirty-one fisheries valued at thirty-one shillings, thirty acres of meadow, and woodland and pasture measuring one mile in each direction. The...
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December 30, 2025

Rights and Protections for Isle of Axholme Tenants – Summary of the Mowbray Charter of 1360.

The tenants of the Isle of Axholme petitioned their lord, Sir John Mowbray, to resolve disputes caused by his officials. In response, Mowbray granted a series of rights and protections to all tenants and residents of the Isle, to apply permanently to them and their heirs. Key points granted: The charter was sealed by both parties at Epworth on 1...
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December 24, 2025

Axholme before Vermuyden – Agriculture Before the Dutch Drainage

Life in Axholme before the drains was shaped by water. Islanders were not impoverished peasants—they were skilled pastoralists, fishers, and peat cutters. Cattle were the backbone of the economy, with thousands overwintered on the commons. Fishing rights were lucrative, and peat from the moors provided essential fuel. Villagers navigated the landscape by boat, using dykes and rivers to reach markets...
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December 18, 2025

Axholme Before Vermuyden: Life, Land and Lords in a Very Different Isle

Long before Cornelius Vermuyden arrived with his Dutch engineers and radical drainage plans, the Isle of Axholme was already a distinctive, self‑contained world. Its landscape, economy, and governance had evolved over centuries in response to the challenges—and opportunities—of living on a wetland “island” surrounded by rivers and meres. Far from being a barren backwater, Axholme supported a thriving pastoral economy,...
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June 27, 2025

Portrait of Sir Philibert Vernatti, 1st Baronet (1590 – 1643) [had been thought to be portrait of Cornelius Vermuyden], after restoration, dated 1626

The artwork, an oil on panel measuring 69 cm by 59.5 cm, is housed at the Valence House Museum in the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham . It was previously thought to be a portrait of Cornelius Vermuyden, a Dutch engineer renowned for his work on land reclamation projects in England during the 17th century. However, recent research and...
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