The parishes of Quadring, Gosberton, Gosberton Clough & Risegate and Surfleet are situated in the South Holland District of Lincolnshire They are in the area A52 in the north, A16 to the east, A151 to the south and the A15 to the west.
In times past this area was mainly marshland, and the occupation of the Fenlanders was wildfowling and reed cutting
Then in the 1630s. King Charles 1 hired a Dutch engineer Cornelius Vermuyden, who had made a name for himself in drainage, in Holland.
He was given the project of draining and maintaining the water levels in the Fen district.
The Fen dwellers did not like this at all, a foreigner ruining their way of life, fishing, wild fowling and reed cutting,
and they swore not to cooperate.
Vermuyden had to import workers from Holland and Flanders, but even the best of them found conditions very demanding.
The locals sabotaged the work, there were riots, river banks breached, sluices blown up and workmen attacked.
Despite all these problems work continued, through the Civil War which began in 1632. A number of new drains were cut, including
the Earith to Denver in Cambrideshire, 100 foot wide and 21 miles long. There were many more major drains, most of which are named after the width,
such as the Twenty Foot and the South Forty Foot,and into these major drains ran the smaller dykes.
There is one named drain of interest, that is the Paupers Cut north of Wisbech, named after and dug out by the paupers of that time.
The drains and dykes were eventually finished in 1652, towards the end the main source of labour were prisoners of war,
especially Scottish after the Battle of Dunbar.
A special service was held in Ely Cathedral in 1652 to commemorate the completion.
On completion, the fenlands became prime farmland, sheep farming, growing a variety of vegetables, cereals and flowers.
