generated some £8,000 per year in rent. The land had previously been extra-parochial, on which people from adjacent villages had grazing rights. After seven years, the Commoners rioted in 1642, breaking down the sluices, destroying crops, and demolishing houses. The Adventurers took their case to the House of Lords, who passed a bill for the "relief and security of the drainers", but the House of Commons were less supportive, refusing to take sides. They ordered that the Sheriff and the local Justices of the Peace should act to prevent and suppress riots. The Commoners then took their grievances to court, and won. The outcome was that when the monarchy was restored in 1661, management of the Fens returned to the Court of Sewers, and remained in a poor state until the mid eighteenth century. To the south of Boston, the Earl of Lindsay and another group of Adventurers faced similar problems. Having reached an agreement with the Court of Sewers, they worked on draining the Lindsay Levels, the main feature of which was the South Forty-Foot Drain, running for from Bourne to Boston. The land reclaimed was suitable for agriculture, and in 1636 they took possession of it, building houses and growing crops. Again, Commoners and Fenmen felt that they had been dispossessed, and attempted to get Parliament to rule in their favour. After three years, they gave up their attempts at a legal solution, and took direct action, destroying the drains, buildings and crops. In the political turmoil of the time, just prior to the start of the civil war, the Adventurers received no compensation for their loss. See also Witham Navigable Drains Fen skating Twenty, Lincolnshire The Fens Reclaimed land Swamp Bedford Level Corporation References Inline citations Works referenced Land drainage in the United Kingdom Hydraulic engineering