ABSTRACT
Encouraged by what seemed to be the emergence of an acceptable scheme, the landowners asked Smeaton to join Grundy and Edwards in a reexamination of the whole question. The three engineers took 4a fresh View of the River and Fens' in October 1761 and reported on 23 November.29 An engraved plan by Grundy appeared early in 1762.30
Their report, one of the classics of 18th-century engineering literature, states briefly and logically the principles involved, and gives detailed recommendations with a summary of the estimated costs. In essence (i) the best line for the new channel is EBGH (Fig. 2), (ii) the channel should have a regular declivity along its length (about 5 inches per mile), a bottom width of 50ft, and banks 40ft back from the edge of the cut, (iii) the sea sluice to be on the cut GH, with pointing doors giving a 50ft waterway, the adjacent lock to have three pairs of gates, (iv) the depth of the new channel and elevation at the top of the sluice draw doors to be such that water level is not less than 2ft below ground, and (v) there should be three pound locks, not stanches, on the river between Chapel Hill and Lincoln. Proposals for scouring and widening the river and improving drainage of the fens followed much the same pattern as in the 1744 report. The estimated cost was rather more than £54,000.
