Invention Of The Car Has Made Matters Worse On The Wash Road

IN reference to your report on the Welney village doctor, stating the wash road had been a problem for a decade. This road has been a problem for many decades but became a much bigger problem with the invention of motorised transport. As a child, I lived

IN reference to your report on the Welney village doctor, stating the wash road had been a problem for a decade.

This road has been a problem for many decades but became a much bigger problem with the invention of motorised transport.

As a child, I lived at 100 Foot Bank, Pymoor and had relatives living in Welney and Three Holes who came by boat over the road. The boatman would take your bicycle over as well, so you could use it on either side. In the 1930s and 40s this would cost a penny each way.

The washes were drained by Vermuyden, a Dutch engineer, in the 17th Century. He was commissioned by the Earl of Bedford, who owned some of the wash land.

The main reason for draining the land was so that cattle could graze on it in the summer whilst still having somewhere for the rivers in Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire to drain into in the winter.

Many towns and villages in these areas would be flooded on a regular basis if it was not for the Ouse Washes.

Maybe the time has come for a modern engineer to design a way over the road. Not an easy task as the road is a mile long and sometimes the water pouring down is very fast flowing.

MARY DOCHERTY (nee Kent)

The Terrace

Bury

Ramsey