Cornelius Vermuyden

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Sir Cornelius Vermuyden (born Tholen, Netherlands, 1595; died London, c. April 1683) was a Dutch engineer who introduced Dutch reclamation methods to Britain, and made the first important attempts to drain The Fens of East Anglia.

[edit] Life

After early successes in draining low-lying areas in the Netherlands, Vermuyden was contracted by Charles I in 1626 to drain Hatfield Chase in the Isle of Axholme, Lincolnshire. The operation was financed by both English and Dutch capital, in particular Francis, Earl of Bedford. The operation was seen by locals as an attack on their livelihood, and the fact that Dutch workers were used led to hostility, with frequent attacks on the workers. In 1630 the parties reached an agreement, with the Dutch workers replaced by English, and the fenmen were given compensation for the loss of fishing and hunting land.

Vermuyden was then tasked with the draining of the "Great Fen" (renamed the Bedford Level after the Earl of Bedford) in Cambridgeshire, for which he would receive 95,000 acres (20 km²) of the reclaimed land. The principal engineering achievement of the operation was the construction of the major channels the Old Bedford River and the Forty Foot Drain. The operation was completed in 1637, but attracted criticism from other engineers who claimed that the drainage system was inadequate.

During the Civil War, parliamentary forces deliberately flooded the region once again to prevent Royalist advances, and in 1649 Vermuyden was again hired to drain the Bedford Level. The work was completed by 1652 using Scottish prisoners-of-war captured at the Battle of Dunbar, and resulted in the digging of the New Bedford River.

Despite the initial success of the reclamation, the drying of the land caused the peat to shrink greatly, lowering the land below the height of the drainage channels and rivers, and the reclaimed farmland was still extremely susceptible to flooding. By the end of the 17th century, much of the reclaimed land was again underwater, and would remain so until the advent of steam-powered pumps in the early 19th century.

Contrary to popular misconceptions, Vermuyden was not responsible for reclamation of Canvey Island, Essex, in 1621, a feat instead performed by the Dutch engineer Joas Croppenburg. Despite this, and the fact that Vermuyden never even set foot on the island, a comprehensive school on the island is named after him.

His family motto "Niet Zonder Arbyt" (translation: "Nothing Without Work") lives on as the official motto of South Cambridgeshire District Council [1]