The Old Bedford River is an artificial, partial diversion of the waters of the River Great Ouse in the Fens of Cambridgeshire, England. It was named after the fourth Earl of Bedford who contracted with the local commission of sewers to drain the Great Level of the Fens beginning in 1630. It provided a steeper and shorter path for the waters of the Great Ouse, and was embanked to prevent them flooding the low ground of the South Fens. Throughout the project, the Earl and his Adventurers faced disruption from those who were opposed to drainage schemes. The project was deemed to have succeeded in draining the fens in 1637, but that decision was reversed in 1638. After a lull during the English Civil War, when much of the work was damaged, the Dutch engineer Cornelius Vermuyden worked with William Russell, the fifth Earl of Bedford to complete the drainage. Disruption and unrest continued while the work was carried out, resulting in the Adventurers employing armed guards. A second river, the New Bedford River, was cut parallel to the first channel, which then became the Old Bedford River. At some point, the Old Bedford River was split into two parts, when the upper section was diverted into the River Delph at Welches Dam, and the lower section was joined to the Counter Drain. Both parts retain the name, but are not connected to each other - i.e. southwest of Welches Dam, the northern channel is named the Counter Drain and the southern channel is named the Old Bedford River; northeast of the dam, the channels are named the Old Bedford River and the River Delph, respectively. The area between the two Bedford rivers acts as a large washland, which holds floodwater when the river channels cannot cope with the volume of water in them.

The river acts as the outlet for a number of land drainage projects. Three internal drainage boards are located along its banks, and there are several pumping stations which pump water from low-lying fens into the Counter Drain and the lower section of the Old Bedford River. At the junction with the Great Ouse is Old Bedford Sluice, through which the water passes to reach the tidal river, but this is not always possible, particularly when high volumes of water are passing down the New Bedford River as a result of heavy rainfall further up the Great Ouse. To resolve this, a pumping station was built at Welches Dam in 1948, to pump water from the Counter Drain and lower Old Bedford River into the River Delph, which runs parallel to the lower river for most of it length, but then crosses the washland to enter the New Bedford River at Welmore Lake Sluice. When pumping occurs, flow in the lower river above Welney is reversed, and a vertical sluice gate prevents water discharged into the river by the Upwell Internal Drainage Board from reaching the pumping station.

The river is navigable from Welches Dam to Old Bedford Sluice, but passage through the sluice can only be made when tidal water levels allow, as there is no lock. Welches Dam Lock used to provide a link from the Middle Level Navigations to the Great Ouse, which was the only link between the two river systems when Well Creek became unnavigable. However, a campaign to save Well Creek from being filled in was successful, and the recommended transfer route follows the old course of the River Nene and Well Creek to Salters Lode Lock at Denver. In 2006, the Environment Agency closed Welches Dam Lock, and despite campaigns for it to be reinstated, it has remained closed. There are proposals as part of the Fens Waterways Link which could result in more of the Old Bedford River becoming navigable, in order to provide a circular cruising route including parts of the Great Ouse and the Middle Level Navigations.

History The idea of an artificial river running, as the Old Bedford River does, from Earith to Denver was not a new idea; it had been proposed as early as 1604 by the engineer John Hunt. At a meeting of the Commissioners of Sewers held at King's Lynn on 1 September 1630, they asked the Dutch drainage engineer Cornelius Vermuyden to implement a drainage scheme for the southern fens, known as the Great Level. He would fund the work himself, but would receive of the drained land in recognition of his investment. Vermuyden produced plans for the work, but wanted of land. However, the Commissioners were not willing to increase the area of land, and so asked the Earl of Bedford if he would undertake the work, to which he agreed. He would be given six years to complete the work. Despite their earlier reluctance to increase the area of land awarded for carrying out the work, the Earl would receive . Of this, would be used to fund ongoing maintenance of the drainage works, would be given to the King, and the remaining would be for the Earl of Bedford. He and 13 other adventurers were granted a charter in 1634, creating a Corporation.

Once the project started, the Earl of Bedford engaged Vermuyden to design the works. At the time, many thought that any solution should involve making existing rivers wider and deeper, whereas Vermuyden was an advocate of new straight channels, designed to increase the gradient of a river, and it was this view that prevailed. The result was the construction of the Bedford River, around long, and running in a straight line from a sluice near Earith to another near Salters Lode. The Bedford River was around wide, and was the main channel constructed. It provided a route for the waters of the Great Ouse which was considerably shorter and steeper than the existing route via Stretham and Ely. The project, which also included cutting or improving eight other drains, was financed by the Earl of Bedford and several other investors. It was undertaken between 1630 and 1636, but although the work carried out may have been based on Vermuyden's plans, there is no firm evidence that he was involved as the supervising engineer.

Prior to work starting, those who objected to the scheme had, among other things, composed "libellous songs to disparage the work", but once construction began, things got much worse. The objectors destroyed dykes as they were erected, filled in channels that had been dug, and opened sluices to flood the land. There were frequent riots, with those carrying out the work attempting to drive cattle from the fens, and crowds armed with scythes and pitchforks attempting to stop them. Tracts and pamphlets were produced by both parties in the confrontation. William Hayward made a detailed survey of the Great Level in 1636, from which it could be seen that the works were only partly completed. However, in 1637, the Commission of Sewers met at St Ives, and stated that the work outlined in the original agreement had been largely finished. Part of the reasoning may have been that several of the adventurers were almost bankrupt, and the decision gave them the land that had been agreed. Numerous complaints were then received by the Privy Council, which turned the king against the Earl of Bedford and his Corporation. It was recognised that much of the Great Level was improved, but the drainage was patchy, and therefore the adventurers had failed to drain the Great Level. On 12 April 1638, the project was deemed to be defective. Later that year, on 18 July, the king was declared as the undertaker who would ensure that the level was drained.

Vermuyden was involved in this second scheme, for which a few works were begun in 1638, but his main plans were not published until 1642. In this period, unrest among those who lived in the Fens, and felt that they no longer had access to what has previously been common land, did not abate. There were disturbances in Whelpmore Fen, near Littleport, and in 1638, threats to break down Ely prison to free those who had been arrested were taken seriously enough that it was guarded during the night. Oliver Cromwell became an advocate for those who had been dispossessed, although he was not against drainage in general, but only the injustices that accompanied it. Activity on the Bedford Levels ceased when the English Civil War began in 1642, and people used the confusion of that period to destroy many of the drainage works.

Second phase Although activity ceased, planning did not. Proposals to drain the Great Level were submitted to Parliament in August 1645, and although progress was slow, in part due to a huge number of objections, they resulted in an act of Parliament being passed on 29 May 1649. This empowered William Russell, the fifth Earl of Bedford and some adventurers to drain the Great Level, without disrupting navigation on the rivers, and to make them into "winter ground". They had until 10 October 1656 to complete the work. "Winter ground" would be suitable for growing crops such as coleseed, rapeseed, corn, grain, hemp and flax, as well as providing pasture for cattle. Despite the act, the undertakers did not have a clear plan of what they would do to achieve the drainage, but were hoping that they could include the works of the Fourth Earl of Bedford. Several engineers made suggestions, but only Vermuyden had a clear plan and workmen to complete the work. As a result, he became the project director on 25 January 1650, despite not being popular particularly with his colleagues.

He split the Great Level into three, which were later known as the North Level, the Middle Level and the South Level, with the Bedford River forming the divide between the Middle Level and the South Level. Work began of the North and Middle Levels first, with the existing drainage works being restored, and new embanking and sluices constructed. In the South Level, the New Bedford River was cut, running parallel to the original Bedford River, which was renamed the Old Bedford River. This was around to the east of the Old Bedford River, and was known as the Hundred Foot River. It became the main channel for the upland waters of the Great Ouse. Water was diverted into it, instead of along the Old Bedford River, by the Severn Holes Sluice, at the start of the Old Bedford River. A high barrier bank was constructed to the west of the Old Bedford River, and another to the east of the New Bedford River, so that in times of flood, the intervening space between the rivers would be inundated, but the surrounding land would not. This vast washland is known as the Ouse Washes.

Earlier disruption of the work was repeated, with attempts to destroy the newly created banks, and the adventurers resorting to using armed guards to protect their work. Frequent complaints were made to Parliament, and eventually, it became difficult to obtain labourers. After the Battle of Dunbar some of the workers were Scottish prisoners, and their numbers were swelled by Dutch prisoners after the Battle of Dover. The works in the North and Middle Levels, to the north-west of the Old Bedford River, were judged to be completed on 26 March 1651, and a second judgement took place at Ely in March 1652, when the South Level was signed off. A service of thanksgiving took place in Ely Cathedral, to celebrate the completion of the work. Attempts were made to create a formal organisation to ensure the works were maintained, and this resulted in the creation of the Bedford Level Corporation under the terms of the General Drainage Act 1663.

River Delph