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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.
After training in the Netherlands, Vermuyden's first known activity in England was the reclamation of Canvey Island, Essex, between 1621 and 1623, financed by the Dutch haberdasher Joas Croppenburg[1] to whom he was related by marriage.
This or perhaps work at Windsor brought him to the notice of Charles I, who commissioned him in 1626 to drain Hatfield Chase in the Isle of Axholme, Lincolnshire for which he received one third of the land. To finance the draining he sold shares in this land to French and Walloon protestant refugees who performed most of the work[2]. A commission was established to compensate those who had the right of pasturage and one third of the land was used for this. The king kept the remaining third to himself. 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 they took out lawsuits, and discontent continued until the end of the century[3].
Vermuyden was knighted in 1629 and became a British citizen in 1633.
In 1633, he started work on the Dutch River which provided a direct route from the Don to the Ouse to stop flooding into the Aire and the whole area around Goole.
Vermuyden was tasked in 1634 with the draining of the "Great Fen" in Cambridgeshire, renamed the Bedford Level after Francis, Earl of Bedford, who financed the operation. The principal engineering achievement of the operation was the construction of the major channel, the Old Bedford River. 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 by some of the Walloons who had moved from Lincolnshire to establish a new colony at Thorney and Scottish prisoners-of-war captured at the Battle of Dunbar, and resulted in the digging of the New Bedford River and the Forty Foot Drain.
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.
A school in Goole[4] and a comprehensive school on Canvey Island[5] are named after him, also a pub (Vermuyden Hotel) in Goole.
His family motto "Niet Zonder Arbyt" (translation: "Not Without Work") lives on as the official motto of South Cambridgeshire District Council [6]
Vermuyden and his work are mentioned in a negative context in the Lincolnshire legend of the Tiddy Mun.
★ ''Sir Cornelius Vermuyden'' (Korthals-Altes, 1925; Williams and Norgate, London)
★ ''Vermuyden and the Fens'' (Harris, 1953; Clever-Hume Press, London)
1. Reclamation of Canvey Island
2. Hatfield Chase
3. Hatfield Chase Corporation
4. Vermuyden School
5. Cornelius Vermuyden School and Arts College
6. South Cambridgeshire Crest
★ In search of the great Dutchman Cornelius Vermuyden, who reclaimed the Fens, including walking tour
| Contents |
| Life |
| Trivia |
| References |
| External Links |
Life
After training in the Netherlands, Vermuyden's first known activity in England was the reclamation of Canvey Island, Essex, between 1621 and 1623, financed by the Dutch haberdasher Joas Croppenburg[1] to whom he was related by marriage.
This or perhaps work at Windsor brought him to the notice of Charles I, who commissioned him in 1626 to drain Hatfield Chase in the Isle of Axholme, Lincolnshire for which he received one third of the land. To finance the draining he sold shares in this land to French and Walloon protestant refugees who performed most of the work[2]. A commission was established to compensate those who had the right of pasturage and one third of the land was used for this. The king kept the remaining third to himself. 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 they took out lawsuits, and discontent continued until the end of the century[3].
Vermuyden was knighted in 1629 and became a British citizen in 1633.
In 1633, he started work on the Dutch River which provided a direct route from the Don to the Ouse to stop flooding into the Aire and the whole area around Goole.
Vermuyden was tasked in 1634 with the draining of the "Great Fen" in Cambridgeshire, renamed the Bedford Level after Francis, Earl of Bedford, who financed the operation. The principal engineering achievement of the operation was the construction of the major channel, the Old Bedford River. 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 by some of the Walloons who had moved from Lincolnshire to establish a new colony at Thorney and Scottish prisoners-of-war captured at the Battle of Dunbar, and resulted in the digging of the New Bedford River and the Forty Foot Drain.
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.
Trivia
A school in Goole[4] and a comprehensive school on Canvey Island[5] are named after him, also a pub (Vermuyden Hotel) in Goole.
His family motto "Niet Zonder Arbyt" (translation: "Not Without Work") lives on as the official motto of South Cambridgeshire District Council [6]
Vermuyden and his work are mentioned in a negative context in the Lincolnshire legend of the Tiddy Mun.
References
★ ''Sir Cornelius Vermuyden'' (Korthals-Altes, 1925; Williams and Norgate, London)
★ ''Vermuyden and the Fens'' (Harris, 1953; Clever-Hume Press, London)
1. Reclamation of Canvey Island
2. Hatfield Chase
3. Hatfield Chase Corporation
4. Vermuyden School
5. Cornelius Vermuyden School and Arts College
6. South Cambridgeshire Crest
External Links
★ In search of the great Dutchman Cornelius Vermuyden, who reclaimed the Fens, including walking tour
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