Did Cornelius Vermuyden meet Prince Henry at a hunt on Thorne Mere?
Did Cornelius Vermuyden meet Prince Henry at a deer hunt on Thorne Mere?
Abraham de la Pryme, a 17th-century antiquarian, recounted a story that Prince Henry, the eldest son of King James I, visited the North of England in 1609 and took part in a grand hunt on Thorne Mere—a vast, marshy area on the edge of Hatfield Chase. During the hunt, hundreds of men in boats drove herds of deer through the flooded mere. It was during this royal event that Cornelius Vermuyden, a Dutch engineer then gaining renown in England, is said to have met Prince Henry.
De la Pryme implies that this meeting may have been influential in drawing attention to the need for drainage and land reclamation in the region. Prince Henry’s interest in the area’s improvement may have helped lay the groundwork—politically or socially—for later drainage schemes, which Vermuyden eventually led under Charles I, after Prince Henry’s death in 1612.
De la Pryme kept a detailed diary and wrote numerous antiquarian letters and manuscripts about the history of the Isle of Axholme, Hatfield Chase, and the surrounding areas. The account of the hunt on Thorne Mere and Vermuyden’s supposed meeting with Prince Henry appears in one of these writings dated between 1695 and 1704—well after the events would have occurred, which were in the early 1600s.
The story of Cornelius Vermuyden meeting Prince Henry at a hunt on Thorne Mere, as told by Abraham de la Pryme, has been treated with skepticism by several historians and scholars, primarily because:
- No documentary evidence links Vermuyden to England before 1621.
- Prince Henry’s itinerary and interests don’t include confirmed visits to Hatfield Chase or Thorne Mere.
- De la Pryme was writing decades after the supposed event and was known to blend historical fact with romantic storytelling.
Though historically uncertain, the tale functions more as a symbolic origin story—linking royal authority, hunting spectacle, and early modern engineering in a single mythic scene. It reflects how early drainage works were seen not just as technical ventures but as grand projects of statecraft, attracting the interest of royalty and wealthy investors.
Academics and sources that question the plausibility:
- Eric H. Ash
- In his authoritative work “The Draining of the Fens: Projectors, Popular Politics, and State Building in Early Modern England” (2004), Ash does not support the idea that Vermuyden was present or active in England before 1612.
- He emphasizes that Vermuyden only rose to prominence in England in the 1620s, particularly after being contracted by the Crown for the drainage of Hatfield Chase in 1626.
- Darwin H. Stapleton
- In writings on the history of engineering, Stapleton notes the lack of evidence for Vermuyden’s presence in England before the 1620s and considers stories of earlier involvement anecdotal at best.
- W. H. Wheeler
- In his 1896 book “A History of the Fens of South Lincolnshire”, Wheeler discusses many of the myths and legends surrounding fen drainage and treats tales like De la Pryme’s with caution, acknowledging their narrative value but not necessarily their historicity.
- Historians of Hatfield Chase and the Isle of Axholme
- Several regional histories, including those by Rev. John Tomlinson and William Peck, mention the story but generally frame it as unverified tradition or “local lore,” not a substantiated historical event.
Sources:
Ash, Eric H. The Draining of the Fens: Projectors, Popular Politics, and State Building in Early Modern England. Johns Hopkins University Press, 2017.