Hatfield Chase - Development

Development

The region was still affected by wintertime flooding in the 18th century, and the civil engineer John Smeaton was asked to make an assessment. He produced reports in September 1764 and October 1776, which formed the basis for remedial work. This was carried out in stages from 1776 until it was completed in 1789.

Improvements continued in the early 19th century, authorised by several Acts of Parliament. The Hatfield Chase Drainage Act of 1813 created two commissioners, who had powers to raise £15,000, to be used for construction work specified by the act, which would be adopted by the Court of Sewers once it was completed. The money was raised by additional taxation on those who benefitted from the works. There was also a special engine-rate, which was used to finance the operation of a steam pumping engine in the southern part of the chase. The steam engine was sited at Little Hirst in 1848, but experience showed that it needed to be nearer to the drainage district, and so it was moved to Bull Hassocks in 1858. A second-hand 40 hp (30 kW) engine drove a 30-foot (9.1 m) scoop wheel.

With a view to improving the drainage of the Chase, an Act of Parliament obtained in 1862 created the Corporation of the Level of Hatfield Chase, which took over the management of the drainage from the individual Participants who had formerly been responsible for it. This act authorised further construction work, including a steam pumping engine for the northern part of the Chase. The areas which were subject to taxation were extended, and the act listed 21 townships and parishes which would be required to pay for the drainage works. The jurisdiction of the Court of Sewers was replaced by the meetings of the Corporation from 1862. The Corporation spent £8,887 on a new pumping station at Dirtness which was operational by 1865. The building contained two compound beam engines, driving a single scoop wheel which was 33.25 by 6 feet (10.13 by 1.8 m) and weighed 80 tons. Bull Hassocks pumping station was upgraded in 1892. Two 48-inch (120 cm) centrifugal pumps were driven by 175 horsepower (130 kW) steam engines, and when both were running, the station could discharge 300 tons per minute (440 Megalitres per day (Mld)) into the South Engine Drain. Diesel engines gave way to electric pumps at Dirtness in 1928, when they were replaced by a Gwynnes pump driven by an electric motor.

The Land Drainage Act 1930 changed the administrative bodies responsible for drainage, and the Corporation effectively became an Internal Drainage Board. In 1941, the Corporation ceased to be, and its powers and responsibilities were split between the Trent River Catchment Board and the River Ouse (Yorkshire) Catchment Board. Despite this change, the management of the area continued much as before, with official records stating that the Catchment Board acted as the Corporation of the Level of Hatfield Chase, even though it no longer existed legally. This continued with the renaming of the Trent River Catchment Board to the Trent River Board, and then the Trent River Authority, which finally became part of the Severn Trent Water Authority in 1974. In an unusual move, the Corporation of the Level of Hatfield Chase was re-constituted in 1987, by an order of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food. The order cited the powers of the 1813 and 1862 Acts, and transferred the property and responsibilities for drainage of the area from Severn Trent to the Corporation.

Upgrading of the pumping stations continued. The steam engines at Bull Hassocks were replaced by a single Ruston 300 hp (220 kW) diesel engine with a 36-inch (91 cm) Gwynnes pump in 1940, to be supplemented by two more similar units in 1941. By 1988 two electric pumps had been installed, and the station could discharge 330 tons per minute (485 Mld). At Dirtness, the single electric pump was supplemented by two more in 1951, rated at 105 brake horsepower (78 kW) and each capable of moving 110 tons per minute (161 Mld).