on the basis that it would prevent other fens from draining properly. The disagreement took a long time to resolve, but the Proprietors eventually obtained an Act in 1841, which transferred the responsibility for the North Fen from the Black Sluice Commissioners to Trustees representing the owners of land within the North Fen. Significantly, the Act allowed the Trustees to build steam pumping engines. The introduction to the Act stated that a number of wind-powered engines had been built following the 1776 enclosure act, but all had been removed after their condition deteriorated. In order to prevent the South Forty-Foot Drain from being overwhelmed by the volume of water pumped into it, a gauge was erected, and pumping had to stop when water levels exceeded an agreed height. A second Act, obtained in 1843, transferred the maintenance of the drainage infrastructure within the North Fen from the Black Sluice Commissioners to the Bourne Fen Trust. The pumping engine was built at Guthram Gowt. In 1872, some of the North Fen were flooded, when the level in the River Glen rose to above any previously known level, and the north bank of Bourne Eau between the lower lock and Tongue End was breached. The Bourne Fen Trust attempted to sue the Black Sluice Commissioners, but the jury found that they had maintained the bank adequately, and therefore dismissed the claim. It was flooded again in 1877 when someone cut through the bank of the River Glen, but despite a reward of £100 being offered, the offender was not discovered. The Guthram Gowt engine was obtained from the Butterley Company and erected in 1845. It was a beam engine, driving a scoop wheel which was in diameter. The scoop wheel was replaced by a pump manufactured by Easton and Anderson in 1895, and the engine was replaced by a Tangye gas engine in 1918. It drove the Easton and Anderson pump by a belt drive. A Ruston diesel engine driving a Gwynnes pump was installed to assist the gas engine in 1933, and both engines were replaced by a electric pump in 1968. Drainage of the South Fen was complicated by the fact that it was hemmed in by Bourne Eau and the River Glen, both of which were embanked. The solution adopted by Thomas Lovell, working on behalf of the Adventurers of Deeping Fen in the early 17th century, was to