The Commoners of East Fen - The Petition of 1784

The Ascough's living on the northern edge of the East Fen might have been amazed if, as noted by  H C Darby in his book Changing Fenland, The Deeps of the East Fen were described as "particularly bad". They provided generations with a livelihood from catching fish and wildfowl  and collecting peat, reeds and rushes for their cottages.

Darby writes: "In 1769 Thomas Pennant wrote “The East Fen is quite in a state of nature, and gives a specimen of the country before the introduction of drainage; it is a vast tract of morass, intermixed with a number of lakes, from half a mile to two or three miles in circuit, communicating with each other by narrow reedy straits: they are very shallow, none above four or five feet deep.”

He continues "During the years that followed, there were many reports into the best way to improve  the River Witham and benefit the adjacent fens (of which East fen is one) (W H Wheeler Page 212). Meetings and committees, of landowners and others interested in the project (finance for land ), followed one another. Any proposal for new cuts and different sluices was opposed by rival schemes. There was also the objection of those fenmen, who in the words of the Petition of 1784, supported themselves and their families comfortably with the produce of the East Fen, by fishing and getting coarse and fine thatch."

W H Wheeler Page 211 as follows:

"In 1784. Mill Drain (see below) was deepened and enlarged by Mr. Pacey its

of Boston, acting under the direction of certain Proprietors of land,

and the drain, leading from Nordyke Bridge to Cherry Corner, was

lowered. This produced a partial drainage of the East Fen, and

lowered the water in the deeps,' but the effect was also to destroy

the herbage in the fen and hinder the navigation of the pools and

dykes. The Fenmen thereupon erected a dam across the new cut.

In a petition sent by the Fenmen relating to this drain, they say, objections to

“It is well known that the temperate and industrious part of the

poor inhabitants of the Soke of Bolingbroke, has, for a long time,

supported themselves and their families comfortably with the produce

of the East Fen, by fishing and getting coarse and fine thatch-

Man}- of us, by the blessing of God and our own industry, has

procured a cow or two, which we used to graze in the said fen in the

summer, and get fodder for their support in winter, but, alas, of these

privileges we are in a great measure deprived by a set of men called

Commissioners, who hath imbibed such a rage for drainage, that

exceeds both utility and justice. Utility, because it destroys the

grass and herbage, and is hurtful both to farmers and poor men ;

justice, because it deprives the poor of their privileges—for the

fishery is ruined, the thatch is destroyed, the fodder very" scarce.

And to make our grievance the more intolerable, and to complete our

ruin, and show how unfeeling they are, they even now are depriving

us of the benefit we expected from the late rains, that is, of getting

our fodder and fuel to land, by running the water away out of both

fens. We, your petitioners, humbly pray you to take up our cause,

and, if possible, procure redress for us, by causing a temporary dam

to be made in Sibsey Cut for our present relief, and a permanent

stanch for our future supply ; and, if practicable, we beg leave to

recommend to your consideration two Cuts, one on the north side

and the other on the south side of the fen, to set bounds to the cattle

and supply them with water, and secure a portion of land to bring

fodder and thatch. And your humble petitioners will be effectually

relieved from that state of distress and poverty which must be the

inevitable effect of the measures now pursued And your humble

petitioners will ever hold themselves in gratitude and duty bound to

pray for your person and family." This was signed by 105 Fenmen,

of whom only 19 were unable to write their names, and made a mark.

As a result of this petition, a sluice was built across Valentine's

Drain and the water in the East Fen retained at an agreed height".

Wheeler’s book ("The History of the Fens of South Lincolnshire) is the most detailed authority on the drainage of the South Lincolnshire Fens. Originally published in 1868, the second edition of 1897 includes a Preface where he talks about more detailed research into various Acts of Parliament and many other documents. The wonderful thing about the book, for me, is that it is just the Southern Lincolnshire Fens with which he is concerned, East Fen being one of these.

Mill Drain (that is the subject of the petition above) is located in the south of East Fen, south west of The Deeps and runs towards Anton Gowt before joining the River Witham before it reaches Boston. On the top map above between "R"  and "T" of "NORTH".

At the time of the petition, John Ascough was 25 or 26, his elder brother Thomas was 27 or 28 and their father Thomas was 49. There is an outside chance that one of them signed the petition. However they were living on the northern edge of East Fen on the opposite side of The Deeps from Mill Drain. And by 1784, the common land of open fields around their villages, on slightly higher ground, had been, or was being enclosed by the Enclosure Act of 1773. “An Act for Dividing and Inclosing certain Open Common Fields, Meadows, Ings and other Commonable lands and Waste Grounds within the manor of Toynton, in the Townships of Toynton All Saints and Toynton St Peters ……”

All as detailed in “Old and New Landscapes in the Horncastle Area by Eleanor and Rex C Russell.

So it may be that by this time, the Ascough’s were employed by the new owners or tenants of these enclosed fields as farm labourers. But they might still have had an interest in the wild East Fen for catching fish and wildfowl as previous generations had done. Once a fenman, always a fenman.