River Witham

The River Witham is a river, almost entirely in Lincolnshire, in the east of England. It rises south of Grantham close to South Witham, at SK8818, passes Lincoln at SK9771 and at Boston, TF3244, flows into The Haven, a tidal arm of The Wash.

History of navigation

The Witham, which was tidal up to Lincoln, has been an important navigation since Roman times. Lincoln (Lindum), the meeting point of Ermine Street, joining London to York, and Fosse Way, leading to Leicester and Bath was an important Roman fort which became one of only 4 colonia in Britain. The Witham gave it access to the Wash and Fossdyke gave access to the Trent at Torksey and thus to the Humber.

Throughout the medieval period, trade continued as evidenced by the importance of Torksey, which was a flourishing town, though now only a small village.

The Witham originally flowed into The Wash at Bicker Haven, where the port of Drayton was established in the Welland estuary and it was only as a result of massive flooding in 1014 that it diverted to flow into The Haven at Boston. This gave rise to the growth of Boston as a port in the 12th and 13th centuries, exporting wool and salt to the Hanseatic League, though it only received its charter in 1545.

But the silting up of the river restricted trade despite the construction of various sluices and barriers from 1142^[1] onwards and by 1671 an Act of Parliament was passed for the improvement of the Navigation.^[2] But little was done until another act was passed in 1762 authorising the construction of the Grand Sluice, a major construction which maintained the height of water above Boston to near normal high tide level and had massive flood gates to cope with any tides above this. This was completed in 1766 and was effective in scouring the Haven below it, but actually encouraged further silting of the river above it.

The 1762 act created the Witham Drainage General Commissioners who continued to promote drainage schemes actively^[3] creating a drainage network known as the Witham Navigable Drains transforming much of northern Lincolnshire from swamp to farming land.

Current Navigation

Today, commercial traffic, apart from trip boats, has ceased above the port of Boston (The Haven) and only pleasure craft carry on through the lock at the Grand Sluice into the Witham. It is still possible to navigate many of the drains in small vessels and consideration is being given to providing a new entry to the South Forty-foot drain from below the Grand Sluice so that small vessels can reach the Fens without venturing out to the Wash^[4] as part of the Fens Waterways Link.

The Witham is navigable only from Brayford Wharf in Lincoln to Boston. There are two locks between Boston and Lincoln - one at Bardney and the other in Lincoln itself, the Stamp End Lock which is unusually a guillotine lock. The main obstruction to navigation is the High Bridge in Lincoln, a medieval structure dating from 1346 which is only about 4.6m wide and 2.6m high at normal river levels. In times of flood it is unnavigable.

Tributaries of the River Witham

• Foston Beck
• River Brant
• Fossdyke Navigation, a canalization of the lower River Till.
• Barlings Eau
• River Bain
• Kyme Eau, the fenland part of the River Slea

The following flow into The Haven.

• South Forty-foot drain
• Maud Foster Drain
• Hobhole Drain

External Links

Photographs of route of Witham

See also

• Rivers of the United Kingdom

1. ^ Wickham 4th Drainage Board History
2. ^ Priestley's Navigable Rivers and Canals, 1831
3. ^ 1st Drainage Board History
4. ^ Fens Waterways link

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