Page:Rivers, Canals, Railways of Great Britain.djvu/299

 as they came that way, down the Trent in their own barges, and conduct them to York; and their original charter is still preserved, and occasionally acted upon.

Leland observes, 'The Fosse-Diche begynnith a quarter of a mile above Lincoln, and so goeth to Torksey a 7 mile strait in length. Bishop Atwater began to cleanse Fosse-Diche and did so half its length from Torksey in hope to bring vessels to Lincoln - but on his death it was neglected.' But this by no means leads to the conclusion that it had been previously navigated; nor does it disprove the contrary opinion; as, by its connection with the Till and Witham, it was liable to be silted up by the mud and sand introduced by flood waters.

Camden will have it that the Fossdike was cut by Henry I.; but as he quotes Hovedon, and the latter historian has almost literally copied Simeon Dunelmensis, it seems more than doubtful that he has truly interpreted his author. Simeon's passage is this, - ' Eodem anno (1121,) Henricus rex facto longa terræ intercessione fossato à Torkseie usque Lincolniam per derivationem Trentæ fluminis fecit iter navium.' Now, as the surface of the water in the Fossdike is 4 or 5 feet above the level of the Trent, it is matter of impossibility that the waters of the Trent should have been diverted through this channel, unless the surface of the Fossdike has been raised to the difference which now exists in the level between the Trent and this navigation. But, as neither Hovedon or Simeon Dunelmensis ever saw the Fossdike, we ought not to be surprized that they have been led into this opinion.

It seems very probable, and it is the opinion of Dr. Stukeley, that King Henry only scoured out the canal, and rendered it a better navigation; and, as a proof, if proof it may be called, that he did not execute the canal, we have it on record that, in the time of Domesday Book, it was said that the King's Monnetari at Nottingham, had, in the days of Edward the Confessor, the care of the River Trent, and of the Fossdike, and of the navigation therein. Now, as this King died in 1066, before the Norman Conquest, it is clear that the supposition of Camden is not supported,

The proprietors employed Messrs. Smeaton and Grundy, in