13/05/08 - Why not wander around Witham waters?
This short walk is located just to the north of Boston where the Witham Navigable Drains extend for over 40 miles in total and are for much of their length accessible to boaters from the River Witham via Anton's Gowt.
Some two miles to the east of the Anton's Gowt lock is Cowbridge where several of these drains meet in what might be described as Lincolnshire's (certainly Boston's) "Little Venice".
The huge areas of the East and West Fens presented drainage problems for millennia and efforts to tame them go back centuries, the first recorded efforts being in 1532 and with the Maud Foster at "Cow Brygge" being mentioned in 1568.
The Maud Foster was possibly also improved as part of further attempts at local drainage undertaken by Sir Anthony Thomas in the 1630's. (He gave his name to "Anton's" Gowt).
However an estimated 40,000 acres of fen were still regularly flooded, a situation which resulted in John Rennie being asked in 1797 to report on a remedy.
His plan recommended digging extensive "catchwater" drains surrounding the fens and thus diverting water away from them plus a system of smaller channels to actually drain the land.
The cost was to be 600,000 and this meant 14,000 acres of the "new" land being sold off to entrepreneurs to raise the necessary funds.
Parliament passed an enabling Act in 1801 and the work took until 1813 to complete.
Rennie's scheme resulted in the creation of the West Fen Drain and the East and West Fen Catchwater Drains, which combine to form the Stonebridge Drain, and it is these waterways that now form the bulk of the "Navigable Drains" meeting at Cowbridge.
From the outset the drains were also used by boats to transport crops, especially cereals, grown on the huge area of newly available farmland and by the1850's fourteen regular packet boats are known to have travelled to Bargate Bridge, Boston from as far afield as Revesby and Hagnaby bringing people to markets; indeed such boat services continued into the early 20th Century.
In the early days of regular postal services there was often no individual delivery with mail simply being left in bulk at agreed distribution points.
An unusual feature at Cowbridge, now sadly gone, was the pole on which a flag was flown to tell the locals that mail was awaiting collection.
The railway crossed twice on the walk is the former East Lincolnshire main built by the Great Northern Railway.
It opened southwards from Grimsby in stages from March 1848 reaching Boston in October and being fully open to Peterborough two weeks after that.
It was a busy freight line carrying enormous quantities of Grimsby fish and Lincolnshire potatoes to London.
Many small stations were closed in September 1961 although the line remained operational until 1970.
It is now open only between Boston and Firsby South Curve where it joins what was previously a separate Firsby to Skegness branch line.
Boston Golf Club has had several homes since it was founded in 1900 but came to its present site at Cowbridge in 1962.
Its beautiful landscaping can be enjoyed from the public rights of way which cross it and it has had the "honour" of being described in the Boston Standard by the towns Preservation Trust as a "delight to the eye".
The drains also encourage a variety of wildfowl and along the tree-lined Cowbridge Drain it is worth watching out for kingfishers.
Notes: There is verge-side parking in the lane approaching Boston Golf Club; turn into it after crossing Richardson's Bridge. Please park considerately. Take care on the two road sections. On the (very) short B1183 section it's worth crossing to the pavement.
About the walk. Start: Near the Golf Course entrance. (GR328475). OS MAPS : Landranger 131 : Explorer 261. DISTANCE : 2 miles : 4 kilometres. REFRESHMENTS : Cowbridge House Inn.
The Walk:
Initially proceed towards the golf club entrance and bear right at the footpath signpost just before the clubhouse access bridge.
At the next signpost (a three-way one) keep forward with the Stone Bridge Drain now on your left. At a junction with the Maud Foster Drain bear right to the lock and cross it to the road. Walk left for 80 yards until level with an iron footbridge and turn left to cross that too. (NB. Note the information board near the small nearby parking area.)
Walk ahead for a few yards before bearing right to pass round a garden onto a track and follow that alongside the Maud Foster Drain to a bridle gate at Rawson's Bridge and join a road (Pilleys Lane). Turn left over the railway and continue until you reach a bend and "T" junction just before the main road. Turn left and in a few yards left again onto a track (No footpath sign!)
Follow this grassy track, now beside the Cowbridge Drain, and eventually re-cross the railway; then in a further 75 yards look for a footpath sign pointing to the right. Turn off and descend the grass bank in front of you so that you pass between a sealed off drain (with a ruined lock on your left) and the main Cowbridge Drain.
Simply walk ahead now on the lower, mown flood bank to a bridge. Cross this to the three-way footpath passed earlier and turn right back to the start.
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Weather for Boston, Lincolnshire
Thursday 24 May 2012
Today
Cloudy
Temperature: 10 C to 19 C
Wind Speed: 17 mph
Wind direction: North east
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 11 C to 20 C
Wind Speed: 26 mph
Wind direction: North east
