When Dutch engineers under Cornelius Vermuyden drained the fens from the 1600s onwards, they created two huge parallel linear waterways 1/2 mile apart, the Old and New Bedford Rivers. They run for over 20 miles from Earith to Denver Sluice.
First windmills, then steam engines, and finally diesel engines pumped water into them from the deep dykes and drains criss-crossing the reclaimed land. But in winter, even these rivers could not move water fast enough to keep the low fens from being submerged. The land between them – the Ouse Washes – was grazed by cattle in summer, but in winter it became a huge reservoir, flooded deliberately.
Floods of 2020/21
Floods of 2022/23
Floods of 2023/24
