to drain his areas of Sedgemoor and Malvern Chase. Marriage and family Vermuyden married Katherine Lapps. One son Cornelius Vermuyden became an Original Fellow of the Royal Society in 1663 and the Royal African Company, established to explore Africa and report on its resources, other children included Charles, Deborah, Elizabeth, John and four others. His second wife was Dionysia Stonhouse. Vermuyden lived in Maiden Lane, Covent Garden in 1647 and had a home in Kelfield , North Lincolnshire. Later in life because of the great fire of London he and his family disappear from records and they changed their last name to Youdan which is more English , his descendants still live in England today . Reclamation results Despite the initial success of the reclamation, the engineers did not understand enough about the ecology of the fens. The drying of the land caused the peat to shrink greatly, lowering the remaining land below the height of the drainage channels and rivers. This caused the reclaimed farmland to become vulnerable again to flooding. By the end of the 17th century, much of the reclaimed land was regularly flooded. This continued until the development of steam-powered pumps in the early 19th century. The drop in the land level can be seen at the pumps near Ramsey Forty Foot, where animal-powered pumps, steam pumps and now fossil-fuel pumps are all co-located, at different heights. They demonstrate both the development of technology and the resulting decline in land levels. Prickwillow Museum has a large pumping engine in working order, but not actively used. Legacy and honours Cornelius Vermuyden School and Arts College on Canvey Island is named after him, as is the Vermuyden Hotel in Goole. His motto ("Nothing Without Work") was adopted as the official motto of South Cambridgeshire District Council. The motto was adopted by No. 3 Group RAF and it appears in a memorial window in Ely Cathedral, installed in their honour. The Vermuyden Tea Rooms and Vermuyden Medical Centre in Thorne, South Yorkshire were named in his honour. The Vermuyden Concert Band, the most senior Saturday afternoon band at William Appleby Music Centre in Doncaster, is named for him. Vermuyden Road, Moorends, Doncaster. - Vermuyden(South Yorks) LDWA is named after him. References Sources External links The Fens: "CANALS, TIGERS & FERTILE LAND", Walking Tours through Dutch Landscapes in Europe (in Dutch) 1590s births 1677 deaths Dutch engineers People from Tholen