Adventurers were groups of English engineers and wealthy landowners, who funded large scale land drainage projects in the seventeenth century, in return for rights to some of the land reclaimed. Early entrepreneurs Land drainage works were expensive, and were usually undertaken in sparsely populated areas. In the seventeenth century a number of such schemes were carried out by Adventurers, who acted under parliamentary sanction, but who financed the works carried out themselves. In return, they gained rights to the land reclaimed as a result of the civil engineering works. One such scheme was the draining of the Bedford Levels. The Bedford Level Corporation was in charge of the works, which when conceived in 1630, would create large tracts of "summer lands", which would be suitable for grazing during the summer months, but would still be liable to flooding in the winter. Funds for the work were provided by the Earl of Bedford and thirteen other Adventurers. Of the land reclaimed, the fourteen men were to receive , to be shared between them, while were to be given to the king, and another were designated to provide income to maintain the works once they were completed. The Dutch engineer Cornelius Vermuyden was employed to carry out the work, and on 12 October 1637, it was judged to be complete, when the Court of Sewers met at St Ives. However, there was dissatisfaction with the decision, and the Royal Commission of Sewers overturned it in 1639, when they met at Huntingdon. An Act of Parliament passed in 1649 authorised the fifth Earl of Bedford to carry out further work, so that the land could be used throughout the year for agriculture. Another Act followed in 1660, but after initial improvements, the schemes gradually deteriorated, and the Bedford Level Corporation found it increasingly difficult to find anyone prepared to invest their money, when the outcome was so full of risk. As well as the engineering challenges faced by the Adventurers, there was also opposition from those who judged that their livelihood was affected by the works. In 1631, a group of Adventurers led by Sir Anthony Thomas were authorised to drain the East Fen, the West Fen and the Wildmore Fen, to the north and west of Boston, Lincolnshire. They spent some £30,000 on the work, and received of the drained land. They subsequently spent £20,000 on improvements and buildings, and the land