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95-775: The Montrose Swing Bridge is located on the Welland River at the junction with the Queenston Power Canal in the southeast portion of the City of Niagara Falls, Ontario , Canada . It was built ca. 1910 to carry the Canada Southern Railway over the river (click the link to see a discussion of companies who used the Canada Southern tracks over the years). It is a two-track bridge, although only one track remains in use today. It crosses

190-593: A weir in the Niagara River, causes the Welland River to reverse its direction twice a day when the flow of water over the Niagara Falls is reduced overnight and the water heads back up the river as far back as Wellandport . When the water flow is restored, the water direction of the Welland River changes once again to flow towards the Niagara River. River Welland The River Welland

285-732: A Mr Harrison, the superintendent of works. With the passing of the Land Drainage Act 1930 , the Welland Catchment Board was created. They had spent £91,537 on the outfall by 1937. Towards the end of the Second World War , E. G. Taverner, the chief engineer for the drainage board, devised a plan to relieve flooding in Spalding by creating a bypass channel, and building the Greatford Cut to divert

380-538: A area known as the 'Boston Deeps' at Tabs Head, where it also meets the mouth of The Haven close to the RSPB nature reserve at Frampton Marsh . Download coordinates as: The origin of the name for the river is unknown but appears to be Pre-English. In Old English the form was Weolud and may have changed to the Middle English form due to folk-etymology or Scandinavian influence. The Welland ( Weolud )

475-559: A bank, while the New River , a drainage channel to the south and east of it, is bounded by another bank. The land between the channels forms Crowland High Wash, Crowland Fodder Lots and Cowbit Wash. The southern bank is variously named Corporation Bank, Wash Bank and Barrier Bank. These washlands were designed to be flooded in extremis , although the building of the Coronation flood relief channel has made this purpose obsolete. Beyond

570-527: A broadly south-west to north-east direction, with an extension to the north around the West Glen and East Glen rivers. The underlying geology consists of Lias clays at the western end of the catchment, with Lincolnshire limestone in the centre, including the valleys of the Glen. The eastern third is mostly alluvial soils , and it is this part that relies on artificial pumping to prevent flooding. Rainfall over

665-436: A conference centre, to flow generally eastwards through Lubenham to Market Harborough . One of the driveways to Thorpe Lubenham Hall is carried over the river by an early nineteenth century ashlar bridge which is a Grade II listed structure. To the east of Lubenham, the river passes Old Lubenham Hall, part of an H-plan house built in the late sixteenth century and modified in the early eighteenth century. King Charles I

760-813: A few weeks sleeping in gardens next to the river in Deeping St James. The seal was spotted further downstream in Spalding as it eventually made its way back to the sea. On the south bank of the river below Fosdyke bridge, the Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust have established Moulton Marsh nature reserve, on a strip of land where soil was excavated to raise the banks in 1981. Habitat is provided by some broad-leafed woodland, covering 15 acres (6.1 ha), several salt-water lagoons and tidal scrapes, covering 35 acres (14 ha), and 40 acres (16 ha) of saltmarsh. A variety of birds can be seen, including little grebe and water rail , which spend

855-682: A group of adventurers led by the Earl of Bedford were granted permission to drain Deeping Fen, South Fen and Crowland. The work included making the Welland deeper and wider from Deeping St James to its outfall beyond Spalding, and the construction of side drains. These included a drain running from Pode Hole to below Spalding, which is still known as Vernatt's Drain, after one of the adventurers called Sir Philibert Vernatti . Although declared completed in 1637, efficient drainage would have to wait until

950-729: A licence is required to use it. From there to the Wash, it was managed by the Port of Fosdyke Authority, but since they went into administration, the Environment Agency have also managed the section from Fosdyke Bridge to below the Holbeach River. In its upper reaches the river supports a wild brown trout population and the occasional grayling. Chub and perch dominate the middle reaches around Stamford, with pike, perch, zander, roach, bream, rudd, ruffe, gudgeon and eels inhabiting

1045-518: A scheme would only cost £13,000, and the work went on for many years. The effects of the embankments had resulted in the bed of the river below Fosdyke being around 7 feet (2.1 m) lower by 1845. In 1867, the River Welland Outfall Act enabled the trustees to raise money to repair the walls where the tide had washed away some of the fill behind the fascines. A dredger was employed between 1889 and 1890, which had been invented by

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1140-471: A shorter 5-mile (8 km) cut from Spalding to Fosdyke. They requested help from Grundy, who proposed a 1.5-mile (2.4 km) cut to Fosdyke, and that the outfall of Vernatt's drain should be moved 2.5 miles (4.0 km) downstream. Improvements to the drain were carried out under an act of Parliament, the Fen Drainage Act 1774 ( 14 Geo. 3 . c. 16) obtained in 1774, and another act of Parliament,

1235-489: A steam-powered pumping station was built at Pode Hole in 1827. Navigation on the upper river, including the Stamford Canal, had ceased by 1863, but Spalding remained an active port until the end of the Second World War . The Environment Agency is the navigation authority for the river, which is navigable as far upstream as Crowland , and with very shallow draught to West Deeping Bridge, where further progress

1330-645: Is a lowland river in the east of England, some 65 miles (105 km) long. It drains part of the Midlands eastwards to The Wash . The river rises in the Hothorpe Hills, at Sibbertoft in Northamptonshire, then flows generally northeast to Market Harborough , Stamford and Spalding , to reach The Wash near Fosdyke . It is a major waterway across the part of the Fens called South Holland , and

1425-529: Is believed to have stayed there before the Battle of Naseby . Three arms of a square moat surround the house, and the site is a scheduled ancient monument . The county border leaves the river on the west side of Market Harborough, as the town is wholly in Leicestershire, and picks it up again on the east side. The River Jordan joins the Welland in the centre of Market Harborough, flowing northwards to

1520-537: Is first mentioned in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle for 921 AD. Richard de Rulos, who was Lord of Deeping Fen during the reign of William the Conqueror erected a strong embankment to prevent flooding of the meadows adjoining the river, which then became fertile fields and a pleasure garden. During the reign of Henry III (1207–1272), complaints were made that of the two channels below Crowland,

1615-472: Is hindered by the derelict lock around the weir. The traditional head of navigation was Wharf Road in Stamford. The management of the lower river has been intimately tied up with the drainage of Deeping Fen , and the river remains important to the Welland and Deepings Internal Drainage Board , for whom it provides the final conduit to the sea for pumped water. Wildlife in the river varies along its length,

1710-590: Is made of iron with stone piers, and was erected by Stamford Town Council in July 1881, to replace an earlier bridge which was washed away in a flood. Beyond Stamford, the river passes the site and ruins of the Benedictine St Leonard's Priory . Hudd's Mill marks the point at which the Stamford Canal left the river. The present mill building dates from 1751 and 1771. The River Gwash , which

1805-699: Is no longer mentioned, therefore it is assumed that the bridge had ceased to swing by that time. Up until 2001, the bridge carried the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) Hamilton Subdivision to the Michigan Central Railway Bridge crossing the Niagara River to the United States. The line saw several trains per day. Late in that year, the Hamilton Subdivision was abandoned where it passed through

1900-638: Is one of the Fenland rivers that were laid out with washlands . There are two channels between widely spaced embankments with the intention that flood waters would have space in which to spread while the tide in the estuary prevented free egress. However, after the floods of 1947 , new works such as the Coronation Channel were constructed to control flooding in Spalding, and the washlands are no longer used solely as pasture , but may be used for arable farming . Significant improvements were made to

1995-811: The Chippawa Creek ) is a river in the Golden Horseshoe that passes through the Southern Ontario cities of Welland and Niagara Falls . It flows from its source , a Drainage Basin just south of Hamilton, Ontario to meet the Niagara River . The river was originally called the Chippawa Creek since it drained into the Niagara River at Chippawa . Like many other places in Niagara, it was renamed by John Graves Simcoe ,

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2090-466: The Earl of Manchester and others 10,000 acres (4,000 ha) of land in return for the drainage works. They were also obliged to maintain the banks of the river, to ensure that both the Welland and the Glen were kept clean and free-flowing, and to ensure that no tolls were charged for navigation on any part of the river below East Deeping. The inadequacy of the outfall and a spate of bad weather stopped them from completing their task. They tried renting out

2185-642: The Environment Agency under the River Welland Catchment Flood Management Plan (CFMP). Of this total, the 14 miles (23 km) below Spalding are tidal, and have sea walls to protect the adjacent land from flooding, while 56 miles (90 km) are fresh water, but run through low-lying land, and are therefore embanked. Within the catchment area, 179 square miles (460 km ) are below sea level, and would be flooded without such defences. The basin runs in

2280-587: The Hothorpe Hills in the parish of Sibbertoft , Northamptonshire and it issues at Spring Croft, Church Street. Sibbertoft sits astride one of the principal watersheds in England. Within 2 miles (3.2 km), the small stream forms the border between Northamptonshire and Leicestershire. It flows westwards, before looping round, passing through the grounds of Hothorpe Hall in Theddingworth , now

2375-615: The Lincoln Drainage, etc. Act 1794 ( 34 Geo. 3 . c. 102), was obtained in 1794 to sanction the Wyberton cut, although the work was not carried out, and Grundy's cut was built under a new act of Parliament of 1801. Several prominent civil engineer considered the problems of Deeping Fen and the river outfall at the end of the 1700s. Two reports were produced, one by George Maxwell, and the second by Edward Hare, who had been assisted by William Jessop and John Rennie . They formed

2470-873: The Welland Recreational Waterway and the new alignment of the Welland Canal. An important tributary of the river is Coyle Creek , a picturesque and thickly forested creek that flows into the river on the north bank. A stream of the river branches off shortly before its mouth . This canal quickly turns an open-cut hydropower channel through the city of Niagara Falls on its way to the Sir Adam Beck Hydroelectric Generating Stations in Queenston . It drains an area of 880 square kilometres (340 sq mi). The International Control Dam ,

2565-473: The "Welland Canal Protection Force") was created to protect critical shipping links in Niagara, including this bridge. Images available from the Niagara Falls Library "Digital Niagara" collection show military forces on this bridge, as well as several other locations in the area. There is a level difference of about 8 feet between the Welland River and the Welland Canal, with the canal being

2660-520: The 1960s and 1970s, several sections of the river above Stamford were made straighter and deeper, to reduce the risk of flooding of agricultural land. To address the habitat and environmental issues causes by such engineering work, the Welland Rivers Trust, a limited company and charitable trust , was set up in 2010. They are seeking to direct regeneration of the river by co-ordinating various organisations, which are known collectively as

2755-462: The County of Northamptonshire in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The longest span is 16 feet (4.9 m), and the cutwaters carry inscribed stones recording the county's involvement. To the north, an early nineteenth-century stone rubble arched bridge carries the road over a drainage ditch near Lolham Mill, while an eighteenth-century bridge, probably rebuilt in the following century, crosses

2850-615: The Fens for land drainage. It was built in 1833, and ran until 1952, when it was replaced by electric pumps. It now forms part of a museum of land drainage run by the Welland and Deepings Internal Drainage Board, in partnership with South Holland District Council. Vernatt's Drain passes through a sluice to join the river, while the sluice that protects the entrance to the River Glen is navigable, to allow boats to reach Tongue End, some 11.5 miles (18.5 km) upstream from its mouth. There are pumping stations for Sea Dike and Lords Drain, and

2945-450: The Glen. The reservoir covered 8 acres (3.2 ha) and provided water to scour the channel below the sluice. His son, John Grundy, Jr. , took over after the death of his father in 1748, and spent nearly £10,000 on bank repairs between then and 1764. He rebuilt Perry's sluice soon after 1750, with taller doors and a set of tide gates to prevent the tide moving upstream, and rebuilt the navigation lock in 1754. After 1764, Thomas Hogard became

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3040-474: The Greatford Cut, which has carried the diverted waters of the West Glen river since the early 1950s. This section is crossed by King Street , which follows the course of a Roman road . Where it crosses the Maxey Cut, to the south of the original channels, there are a series of 14 arches which comprise Lolham Bridges. They are grouped into five structures to cross the channels in the area, and were funded by

3135-523: The Maxey cut. Below Spalding, there were no restrictions on headroom, which allowed small coasters to reach the town. The bridge at Fosdyke was a swing bridge , to comply with the provisions of the Fosdyke Bridge Act of 1870. The demise of such traffic allowed it to be replaced by a fixed bridge with headroom of 16.5 feet (5.0 m), but the powers of the original Act had to be rescinded, and

3230-400: The Port of Fosdyke Act was obtained in 1987 to allow this to happen. The redundant wharfs at Fosdyke have been developed to provide moorings for yachts and other pleasure craft. The lock at Fulney has three sets of gates, two pointing towards the sea, and a third between them which points upriver. Thus, the lock can only be used when the level below it is higher than the level above it, and as

3325-607: The River Glen at Surfleet. Perry was an engineer of some repute, who had set the standard for engineering reports in 1727, when he published his recommendations for the North Level of the Fens. His plans were approved, and the Adventurers offered to give him land covering nearly 6,000 acres (2,400 ha) in payment for the work. He sold one-third of the land to finance the project, and began work in 1730. Cowbit sluice on

3420-528: The South Drain and the Folly River, also a drain, meet. The river is officially navigable below this point. Through Crowland and Cowbit to the edge of Spalding , the river is laid out with washlands , which were historically used as pasture, because the river was allowed to flood the land when tidal levels prevented the water discharging into the sea. The river is bounded on the north and west by

3515-651: The Welland Valley Partnership. They published a major document outlining their proposals in February 2013, and by 2020 had completed 36 enhancement projects. The river as far as Stamford was used by the Romans for navigation, as it formed part of a system including the Car Dyke , which ran along the western edge of the Fens and crossed the river near the modern Folly River. Navigation to Stamford

3610-518: The Welland had six 6-foot (1.8 m) wide gates which were operated by chains connected to a treadwheel. At high tide, water was penned in Cowbit Wash, between banks which were set well back from the main channel. The bed of the river below the sluice was loosened by dragging wooden rollers with iron spikes over it. At low tide, the sluice gates were opened, and the flow scoured out the silt for some 3 miles (4.8 km) downstream. A navigation lock

3705-452: The area varies between 26 and 30 inches (660 and 760 mm) per year, which is quite light, and because the land is efficiently drained during the winter months, there are few reserves, making the area prone to drought in the summer months. For much of its length the Welland forms the county boundary between Northamptonshire and Leicestershire or Rutland , and lower down between Lincolnshire and Cambridgeshire . The Welland rises in

3800-560: The basis for the Deeping Fen Act 1801. The channel above Spalding was made deeper, the north bank was made stronger, and the North and South Drove Drains were enlarged through the fen. One of Rennie's recommendations had been to replace the windmills which drove the drainage pumps with a steam pumping station at Pode Hole, but this was not implemented. After reports by Rennie and Thomas Pear in 1815, and by Rennie alone in 1818 and 1820,

3895-719: The busy tourist area of Niagara Falls and trains were re-routed over a Canadian National Railway line to enter the United States via the International Railway Bridge . The track crossing the Montrose Swing Bridge was re-designated as the Montrose Subdivision. It now exists exclusively to service a couple of industries within the boundaries of the city of Niagara Falls and carries only one or two short trains per week. Welland River The Welland River (originally called

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3990-493: The canal crossed on the level, joins from the north, and the remains of the canal follow the river on its north bank. Below Uffington , the county border follows the old course of the river, first to the south to Tallington and then to the north, while the main course now flows along the Maxey Cut to Peakirk . The old course consists of two streams, fed by sluices from the Maxey Cut, which meander to The Deepings . The eastern stream supplied power to Lolham and Maxey mills, while

4085-493: The construction of Pode Hole pumping station in 1827. At Crowland the river used to split into two channels, one broadly following the present course of the river, and the other joining the old South Ea to reach the River Nene near Wisbech . Dugdale, writing in 1662, described the Spalding channel as "a most slow course". The river no longer flows through Crowland, but the unique triangular Trinity Bridge , which spanned

4180-525: The county border follows a meandering course to the north of it, but rejoins the river near the Bringhurst to Cottingham road. The bridge over the river is plain, but to the north of it is an eighteenth-century causeway, some 110 yards (100 m) long, which is made of stone and pierced by seven large arches and numerous smaller arches for drainage pipes. The causeway has two large semi-circular passing places on its western side. The Welland passes to

4275-499: The daughter of John Brown of Pelham Township, Patrick O'Reilly felled a couple of very tall trees across the River to shorten his journey to see her. A better bridge was built after they married and Patrick realized Sarah was frightened of walking along the logs. John Brown O'Reilly was their son who acted as Clerk of Wainfleet Township for many years. Over the years O'Reilly's Bridge saw many upgrades and improvements until it finally became

4370-581: The early nineteenth century carries the Ashley to Medbourne road. Macmillan Way , a long-distance footpath, crosses on its way from Abbotsbury in Dorset to Boston, Lincolnshire . Medbourne Brook joins from the north, after which the river approaches a dismantled railway and is joined by the Stoke Albany Brook, approaching from the south. The river remains on the south side of the railway, while

4465-488: The eastern edge of Stamford near Hudd's Mill, to Market Deeping , where it would rejoin the river. The decision was ratified in 1623 by a grant of James I , and the corporation expected to have the work completed by 1627. However, they were unable to find a suitable contractor to carry out the work, and failed to reach agreement on terms with David Cecil in 1636, and two other potential contractors after that. Finally in 1664, an alderman from Stamford called Daniel Wigmore took

4560-556: The end of the Second World War. A water taxi service was launched in Spalding in July 2005. Its route is from just off Spalding's High Street upstream along the river, turning onto the Coronation Channel, and going to Springfields Outlet Shopping & Festival Gardens, and back. Vessels of 110 by 30 feet (33.5 by 9.1 m) and drawing 8 feet (2.4 m) can still proceed along the estuary at high water, and can travel inland as far as Fulney lock. They cannot pass through

4655-445: The faster headwaters being a habitat for trout and the slower lower reaches for perch. The estuary conditions and flat landscapes beyond Fosdyke favour wading birds and migratory species. The River Welland, with its tributaries, forms a river system with a catchment area of 609 square miles (1,580 km ). Within this area, 257 miles (414 km) of waterway are designated as "main river", and are therefore managed for flood control by

4750-404: The fens should be drained, as the banks of the river and of the neighbouring Glen were in a poor state of repair. They suggested that Thomas Lovell should undertake the work, which he did, at a cost of £12,000, for which he received 15,000 acres (6,100 ha) of the land which was reclaimed as a result of the work. Unrest in the early 1600s resulted in most of the works being destroyed, but in 1632

4845-521: The field to modify the results. He oversaw a programme of repairs to the Deeping Bank, which ran for 12 miles (19 km) along the north and west side of the river, while John Scribo was employed to do the same for the Country Bank, which ran for 6 miles (9.7 km) on the south and east. Grundy made the river deeper above Spalding, and also constructed a sluice and reservoir at the mouth of

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4940-528: The first lieutenant governor of Upper Canada in 1792. The present name was taken from the river of the same name in Lincolnshire , Eastern England . The Welland River is occasionally referred to as Chippawa Creek, especially by those in the Chippawa area itself. The Welland Canal was named after the river since it originally was planned to link Lake Ontario to Welland River. The city of Welland

5035-447: The flow is diverted through the Coronation channel, the town is protected by Marsh Road sluice and a sea lock to the east. Below the town, it is approached by Vernatt's Drain, which runs parallel to the river carrying water pumped from Deeping Fen, and is crossed by the A16 road bridge. Nearby is Pinchbeck Marsh Pumping Station , which houses the last beam engine and scoop wheel to be used in

5130-416: The higher of the two. This was overcome via a lock at Port Robinson. This lock was of limited size. As ships increased in size, especially with the opening of the greatly expanded Fourth Welland Canal in 1932, the demand for navigation on the river diminished. A New York Central Railroad timetable published in April, 1936 mentions this bridge and associated interlocking . In an April, 1939 timetable, it

5225-422: The job. He built the cut and 12 locks, which included the High Lock and the Low Lock on the river at Deeping St James, at a cost of £5,000. In return for his expenditure, he was given the lease of the tolls for the next 80 years, for which he paid a rent of one shilling (five pence). The cut, known as the Stamford Canal , is one of the earliest post-Roman canals in England. It opened in 1670, around 100 years before

5320-487: The junction, remains in the centre of the town. Spalding had been a port from a time before any of the river improvements were made. The townspeople had refused to repair the river during the reign of Henry III , for they claimed that here it was part of the sea. Its importance as a port increased with the river improvements and the Stamford Canal, and although it did not have a customs house, by 1695 it had various officials who acted as customs officers for goods arriving at

5415-448: The land they had been granted, but many tenants were unable to pay the rent, due to the poor state of the drainage which reduced crop yields. In April 1729, the Deeping Fen Adventurers received a letter from Captain John Perry, expressing the opinion that the only way to improve the drainage was to improve the river outfalls, and proposing the construction of scouring sluices on the river at Spalding, on Vernatt's drain at its outfall, and on

5510-409: The lock as it is only 62.3 by 27.8 feet (19.0 by 8.5 m) and at normal summer water levels, can accommodate boats drawing 2.6 feet (0.79 m). The river is officially navigable to the point at which the Folly River joins it, but the length of boats allowed on this section is restricted to 35 feet (11 m) long, considerably less than the lock dimensions would suggest. Navigation on this stretch

5605-461: The lower lengths around Spalding. A collaboration between the Welland Rivers Trust, the Wild Trout Trust and the Environment Agency has resulted in the construction of a rock ramp, to allow migrating sea trout to pass up the river beyond the weir on the Maxey Cut, which was acting as a barrier. Some 300 tons of rock, with 50 tons of finer material forming a top layer, were used to create the ramp. The finer material ensures that water mainly flows over

5700-402: The mill stream. Another pair of early nineteenth-century bridges, built of coursed limestone with ashlar dressings, carry the road over the northernmost channel. The bridge at Deeping Gate carries the date 1651, and is a Grade II* listed stone structure with three round arches. After the remains of Deeping High lock and Deeping Low lock, there is a junction where the old course, the Maxey Cut,

5795-576: The money could not be raised at the time, due to the financial crisis caused by the French Wars . Grundy's shorter channel had been finished by 1810, improving both drainage and navigation. James Walker reported in 1835 on further improvements, making the recommendation that the river below Spalding should be constrained between high banks, so that the scouring action of the water would dredge its own channel. Rather than excavating, which he estimated would cost £70,000, he suggested using fascines made of thorn branches, around which silt would be deposited. Such

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5890-476: The north of Corby near Rockingham , and then to the south of Caldecott , where it becomes the county border between Northamptonshire and Rutland , and the Eye Brook , which has been dammed to form the Eyebrook Reservoir , joins from the north. As it flows past Harringworth , the river forms two channels, with the county border following the smaller, northern channel. It is crossed by the 1,275-yard (1,166 m) Welland Viaduct , with its 82 brick arches, which

5985-421: The one to Spalding was more favourable to the passage of barges, but the Abbot of Crowland had obstructed and narrowed its course by planting willow trees. In the fourteenth century, Spalding was charged with failing to scour and repair the river, causing damage to the king's liege people, but argued that because it was tidal at this point, it was an arm of the sea, and so they were not responsible. The river

6080-428: The outfalls of the Risegate Eau and Five Towns drainage channels before the final bridge at Fosdyke is reached. After passing Fosdyke Bridge the river passes into Moulton Marsh where it is joined by the Holbeach River, the river from this point then enters a area of extensive salt marshes with estuary like features which make up what is known as 'The Fosdyke Wash' at the very south-western edge of The Wash where

6175-481: The port facilities at Spalding; however, by the 1820s, ships could only be loaded with 40 tons each as the river silting had worsened. Trade records indicate that in 1829, vessels carried just under 20,000 tons to and from Spalding, and by 1835 this had increased to over 34,000 tons. There was pressure from merchants to cater for larger vessels, and with later improvements, carried out under an Act of Parliament obtained in 1837, barges and sloops of up to 120 tons could use

6270-415: The port. Because the river was maintained for drainage, some commercial traffic continued despite the railways, and tolls of £478 were collected on 11,690 tons in 1888. Coal for Spalding gasworks arrived by boat until the early 1900s, and the last regular trade was the carriage of corn, hay and straw from Spalding to Fosdyke, where the cargo was transferred to larger ships. All commercial carrying had ceased by

6365-472: The provision of steam engines was authorised by an act of Parliament in 1823. The trustees appointed by the 1801 act continued to manage Deeping Fen until they were replaced in 1939 by the Deeping Fen, Spalding and Pinchbeck Internal Drainage Board , subsequently renamed the Welland & Deepings Internal Drainage Board. Plans to re-route the outfall along a new channel which would meet the River Witham at The Scalp, near Boston , were authorised in 1794, but

6460-432: The quays and warehouses. Exports included oats, coleseed, rape oil, hides and wool, with a much greater variety of imports, including stone, timber, coal, groceries, glass and beeswax. More exotic imports included French and Spanish wines, and some of the first imports of tea, coffee and chocolate. The drainage of Deeping Fen was again addressed when the Draining Deeping Fen Act 1664 ( 16 & 17 Cha. 2 . c. 11) awarded

6555-425: The railway station. Langton Brook and Stonton Brook join from the west near Welham . The county border meanders from side to side across relatively straight sections of the river, suggesting that the channel has been engineered. A three-arched bridge, built in 1881 of fine ashlar masonry, with a causeway to the south, carries the Welham to Weston by Welland road over the river, while a four-arched bridge dating from

6650-406: The ramp, rather than through it. The ramp also enables young eels or elvers to move up the river, and provides habitat for stone loach and bullheads . Large numbers of swans and geese use the river around Crowland, and out to sea. Smaller populations of each can be seen around the Stamford Meadows, and further upstream. In 2015, a grey seal found its way from the Wash up the river and spent

6745-408: The responsibility of the municipality. That is about the time O'Reilly's Bridge became a single-lane iron truss bridge, the only of its kind on the entire river, and one of the oldest iron truss bridges in Southern Ontario. O'Reilly's Bridge was demolished in 2010 (14 years ago)  ( 2010 ) and was replaced with a more modern, wider span. The river flows under two navigable aqueducts :

6840-557: The river at roughly a 45-degree angle. This bridge is visually similar to the Welland Canal, Bridge 15 , although it is a Warren truss , compared to the Baltimore truss of Bridge 15. The Welland River meets with the Welland Canal at Port Robinson, Ontario . When the very first canal opened in 1829, it ended at Port Robinson and all vessels followed the Welland River to the Niagara River at Chippawa, Ontario . The canal

6935-602: The river banks, much of the fertile arable land is composed of marine silt , which suits the bulb-growing for which Spalding is famous. The commercial growing of bulbs was pioneered in the 1880s, with the first large-scale tulip fields introduced by Sam Culpin in 1907. At its peak in 1939, there were 10,000 acres (4,000 ha) of bulb fields, and 3000 tons of flowers were exported through Spalding railway station . Tulips were grown on around 3,000 acres (1,200 ha) in 1965, but this had reduced to less than 1,000 acres (400 ha) by 1999. Passing through Spalding, where most of

7030-514: The river in the 1660s, when a new cut with 10 locks was constructed between Stamford and Market Deeping , and two locks were built on the river section below Market Deeping. The canal section was known as the Stamford Canal , and was the longest canal with locks in Britain when it was built. The river provided the final outlet to the sea for land drainage schemes implemented in the seventeenth century, although they were not completely successful until

7125-426: The river systems in England. Each is given an overall ecological status, which may be one of five levels: high, good, moderate, poor and bad. There are several components that are used to determine this, including biological status, which looks at the quantity and varieties of invertebrates , angiosperms and fish. Chemical status, which compares the concentrations of various chemicals against known safe concentrations,

7220-555: The river, and a pumping station on the north bank at Stamford Meadows has pumped large quantities of water to the Rutland Water reservoir since its construction in 1975. Stamford was the lowest point at which the river could be forded so the Roman Ermine Street crossed the Welland there. The A16 road crosses the river by a three-arched stone bridge designed by Edward Browning in 1845. Below it, Albert Bridge

7315-578: The river, dating from the fifteenth century but widened in 1919. After the river passes under a railway bridge at Ketton , its flow is swelled by the River Chater . The county border again leaves the river to the west of Stamford while below the town the river forms the border between Lincolnshire and Cambridgeshire . Just before Stamford, the Great North Road , now labelled the A1, crosses

7410-426: The salt marshes becomes indistinguishable from the sea and from here the river quickly loses the traditional characteristics of being a river as the main river banks move away from the river itself at this point to become the main sea embankments and this leaves the river without a distinguishable mouth as it merely becomes a deep tidal channel known as the “Welland Outfall”, where it finally flows into The Wash itself in

7505-482: The start of the Industrial Revolution which brought about the " golden age for canals " in Britain. When built, it was the longest canal with locks in Britain, and was very busy with barges carrying flour, malt, coal, timber and limestone. The people of Market Deeping, Deeping Gate and Deeping St James, together with other villages along the river presented a petition to Elizabeth I, requesting that

7600-468: The surveyor of works, but Grundy continued to act as a consultant engineer. Hogard devised a scheme to cut a new channel from the junction of the Welland and the Glen to Wyberton , on the estuary of the River Witham below Boston. At the end of the 7.5-mile (12.1 km) cut, there would be a huge sluice and a navigation lock. The Adventurers asked Thomas Tofield for a second opinion, who suggested

7695-424: The tide falls, the intermediate gate closes to prevent its use. The principle of there being no tolls for use of the river was established by the 1664 Act of Parliament. This was reversed by the 1794 Act, which imposed high tolls, until they were reduced by the provisions of an Act of Parliament obtained in 1824. The river is now managed by the Environment Agency between Stamford and just below Fosdyke bridge, and

7790-409: The upper river stopped, and the locks deteriorated. By April 1863, all traffic had ceased, and Stamford Corporation tried to sell the line at auction, but failed because their ownership of it was disputed. Trade on the lower river was carried in barges and keels. During the early 1800s as trade was increasing, so the river was simultaneously silting up. Around 1800, vessels carrying 60 tons could reach

7885-479: The water. Powers were granted to restore the river using either the old channel or the new one, although it is not clear exactly what was meant by this. There is no evidence that any work was carried out under the terms of the act. The powers were revived in 1620, when Stamford Corporation was given permission by the Commission of Sewers to build a new 9.5-mile (15.3 km) artificial cut, which would run from

7980-519: The waters of the West Glen river into the Welland upstream of Market Deeping. The scheme cost £723,000, with much of the work being carried out by W. & C. French , and the Coronation Channel around Spalding was opened in September 1953. Fulney lock was constructed at the same time to exclude the tide from the upper river, as was the Maxey Cut, an embanked channel that bypasses the villages of Market Deeping, Deeping Gate and Deeping St James. During

8075-465: The western stream did the same for Tallington Mill, which dates from around 1700, West Deeping mill, and Molecey's mill, which still retains its seventeenth-century undershot waterwheel , modified in the 19th century to Poncelet's improved design , and the only surviving waterwheel of its type in Lincolnshire. At the western edge of Market Deeping the two streams join, and they are also joined by

8170-469: The winter on the lagoons, while the scrapes, which consist of shallow pools and muddy shorelines, are visited by common redshank and little egret . Between the river mouth and the River Witham, a large expanse of saltmarsh provides breeding grounds for common redshank, Eurasian oystercatcher and reed bunting in the summer, and Eurasian wigeon , mallard , common shelduck and common teal in

8265-528: The winter. Birds of prey such as hen harrier and merlin feed on the flocks of linnet and twite , while the mudflats support dunlin , Eurasian whimbrel , and bar-tailed godwit . The Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust have a reserve there, which is next to RSPB Frampton Marsh , a reserve managed by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds . The Environment Agency measure the water quality of

8360-530: Was completed in 1879, and carries the Oakham to Kettering Line over the valley. Apart from viaducts carrying suburban lines into London, it is the longest railway viaduct to be built in Britain. Uppingham Brook flows eastwards from Uppingham to join on the north bank, and the Jurassic Way long-distance footpath crosses the river at Turtle Bridge. This probably dates from the fourteenth century, although it

8455-403: Was constructed beside the sluice, so that vessels could still gain access to the river above. Perry died in February 1733, and was buried in Spalding churchyard. The lock lasted until it was removed by the Welland commissioners in 1813. Perry was succeeded by John Grundy, Sr. , who published a paper in 1734 on flow in open drains. He calculated theoretic flow rates, and then used observation in

8550-460: Was extended through to Lake Erie in 1833, but the Welland River remained in service as a commercial shipping channel for approximately another century. It provided a route to the industries along the Niagara River and Buffalo, NY , as well as access to the Erie Canal without journeys through open water. During World War I , a military unit known as the "Welland Canal Force" (or, sometimes,

8645-404: Was improved by the canal. Boats used on the canal were small lighters, around 7 feet (2.1 m) wide, capable of carrying from seven to fourteen tons, and normally worked in trains of four vessels. With the arrival of the railways, river trade declined. The Midland Railway reached Peterborough in 1846, and opened their line to Melton Mowbray, passing through Stamford, in 1848. Carriage of coal on

8740-494: Was later named after both waterways which crossed in the city. The oldest structure spanning the Welland River was O'Reilly's Bridge, which was built in 1901 (123 years ago)  ( 1901 ) and crossed the river between the townships of Pelham and Wainfleet . The settler, Patrick O'Reilly, son of Sgt. John Reilly, of Stamford Township (present-day Niagara Falls ), settled in Wainfleet in 1806. After meeting Sarah,

8835-425: Was one of the earlier rivers to be granted an act of Parliament for improvements, to allow navigation to Stamford. The Welland Navigation Act 1571 ( 13 Eliz. 1 . c. 1 ) was granted in the reign of Elizabeth I in 1571, and detailed how Stamford had prospered as a result of the river, but also stated that mills built between Stamford and Deeping had resulted in it no longer being navigable, for they had diverted

8930-570: Was severely restricted by Four Mile Bar footbridge, which provided just 5.25 feet (1.60 m) of headroom, but this was increased when a new single-span arched bridge was installed in early 2007 by the Lincolnshire Waterways Partnership. Smaller boats such as canoes, which can be carried around obstructions, can continue up to Stamford, but they must use the old course of the river through the Deepings, rather than

9025-407: Was widened in 1793, and a parapet has been added subsequently. On the road from Barrowden to Wakerley , there is a medieval bridge with five pointed arches, which was widened in the eighteenth century. Fineshade Brook flows from the south to join the river near Duddington , where there is a well-known mill building of earliest known date 1664. A limestone ashlar bridge with four arches crosses

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