THE WELLAND
Old Man River just keeps rollin’ along says John Parsonage When you have lived in The Deepings and the surrounding area for more years than you might care to admit, you start to appreciate many things that don’t change for a great length of time. These long-lasting bastions of strength, standing up to the passage of time and all that can be thrown at them, might be social things such as community groups, businesses, families, friendships. Alternatively, they might be more physical and visual things like fields, trees, hedgerows or buildings which help to create the rich and varied tapestry of landscape in which The Deepings finds itself nestled. This richness of landscape along with convenient north / south bridging points on The River Welland could well be one of the founding reasons for the original development of The Deepings. Over time the population has grown and so have all the social aspects of society. Sadly, some of the old buildings full of charm and character have disappeared in the name of development. I often wonder what The Deepings would be like if these buildings still stood and had been sympathetically restored and developed. Would we now be living in The Cotswolds of Lincolnshire, attracting visitors and trade from further afield!? Regardless of this The Deepings still remains a very attractive place to live and this is evidenced by how many successive generations of families choose to live out their lives in the wider area. However, something exists which is longer lasting than the buildings, the community groups, the friendships and the successive generations of families. This ‘thing’ is something that many of us pass by in our everyday lives whilst in and around The Deepings. It is in the midst of our community but also extends far beyond it. It has, over time, brought happiness and sadness along with financial cost and prosperity to our community. It threads through 34
our lives, our community and the wider landscape like a silver life breathing eel, not so different from those eels which use its channel to fulfil their epic migration. I am, of course, talking about the River Welland. Not a mighty river like the Thames, Nile or Amazon but nonetheless an equally important river to us. Yet I wonder how many of us truly give it much thought, value or consideration? Evidence from local historical digs arising from road building and gravel extraction proves that it has been a valued resource to mankind for thousands of years. In the beginning, Stone Age man probably hunted on the shingle banks at the river’s mouth. Bronze Age man built settlements amongst the reed beds and
marshes created by the untamed overflowing channel. Successive generations of Fen Folk have derived their livelihoods from the river and surrounding landscape, catching fish and fowl to sustain their families and provide an extra income where possible. As society developed, man exercised his power on the landscape by draining the fens and meres found in Lincolnshire and beyond. The Dutchman Cornelius Vermuyden was brought in to assist with plans to drain this (as described by some) wet, desolate, fly-ridden and unforgiving landscape. Investors were sought to back these drainage schemes, hence the term adventurers. This terminology can be seen on some of the earlier maps of the area, when it says ‘Adventurers Lands’ i.e. lands which were still being drained. The widening
