Local historians,
Charles Tebbutt and Rosa Young, have published extensive research into St
Neots’ history. What follows has largely been gleaned from their work.
St Neots was constantly
under threat from floods. The River Great Ouse flows roughly
southwest to northeast in a narrow, alluvial flood plain through a
series of gravel terraces.
Almost every other
winter during the 19th century there were floods after heavy
rains on frozen ground or during winter snow melt. They covered the
river meadows and the road by the mill at Little Paxton.
The additional
discharge of water from further upstream in the Ouse’s catchment area
of Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire meant the flood waters last three days,
sometimes longer.
About every three or
four years the level would be higher and flood parts of Brook Street, Church
Street and St Mary’s Street in Eynesbury. Sometimes the floods covered the
Market Square and the west end of the High Street.
Violent thunderstorms
in summer with heavy rain often caused Cambridge Street brook to
overflow the road, parts of Huntingdon Street and flood houses. They quickly
subsided though. The flooded houses on lower ground belonged to the poorest
people and their lives were constantly made a misery, too poor to afford new
decorations, furniture or fuel to dry out the houses.
It was the
responsibility of the town authorities to provide horse and carts for
continuous free transport along flooded streets. People got off the cart onto a
line of chairs leading through the downstairs of their house to the stairs and
the dry upper storey.
Bakers’ carts used
to deliver bread on pitchforks to customers at bedroom windows.
In 1370 the
monks at the Priory, despite shop rents and market tolls, did not have enough
money to repair three watermills that had been destroyed in a bad flood.
A serious flood
occurred in 1571 when boats floated over the walls of St Mary’s
churchyard.
In 1591
swans were seen swimming in the Market Place during a flood.
The worst flood
was on 30th October 1823. Incessant rain with a strong NE
wind which became a hurricane during the night with sheets of water.
At eight
o’clock in the evening of October 30th, when the flood was at its
highest, not a house in the town but was inundated to a considerable depth; in
many the water ran over the shop counters and in some it was more than five
feet deep; indeed in one or two instances it was up to the ceiling… One poor
woman who had been compelled to take refuge from the flood in the garret
remained from Saturday night to Monday morning without food… persons were
rowing about the Market place in boats and brewing tubs, endeavouring to render
aid; and amongst other things swept away by the destructive element a pig-stye
was seen floating down the streets.
At Eaton Socon
a poor man was rescued from his dwelling in a boat only a minute before his
home was overwhelmed.
The greatest
height this flood reached was 10 ft. 8ins (3.2m.) above normal
and lasted for three days. Houses by the Corn Exchange were under 3 foot
(1.05m.) of water. St Mary’s parish church was under 2 feet (0.74m)
of water. Every house in town was flooded. The floodwaters reached the bottom
of Priory Hill. Ingersole, the grocer in the market Square lost goods valued at
about £1000 and Bedells on the High Street lost £500.
In 1869 the
countryside all around ‘had the appearance of an inland sea’, and in the flood
in 1872 the High Street was flooded. In the flood of 15th to
20th October 1875, water rose 8 feet (2.95m.) A mail
coach driver was thrown from his vehicle in Cambridge Street and almost
drowned. There was another flood in November, with 18 inches (0.55m.) of water in the High Street.
In 1880 the river was 5 feet (1.85m.) above normal and
in 1883 the press reported four severe floods in the past six months.
Town flooding occurred again in 1891.
In most years the
river rose about 5 ft (1.85m.) but in November 1894 it
rose over 7 ft. (2.59m.). Homes and shops had to be evacuated by
boat and the waters spread over most of Eaton Ford and Eynesbury as well as St
Neots. Many shopkeepers lost their produce. Parts of the road by the Paper Mill
were washed away and a floating tree trunk bent the floodgates. The vicar read
a sermon on the ‘Deluge’. There was no water fit to drink. The Local Board,
worried about an epidemic, printed and distributed a leaflet to every house
advising them to filter and then boil their drinking water. A Poor Committee
was set up to collect money to distribute bread to those in need and coal
to help dry out their houses. The fire engine was used to pump
water out of cellars and wash the sewage away.
The St Neots
Advertiser described the scene after the water had subsided.
‘After 11.00 p.m. the fall was very rapid.
Of course the lower lying parts were still flooded for several days. Saturday
was a fine bright day and in all directions were to be seen furniture, carpets,
and other household goods put out or hung up to dry. The water had left
behind a slimy mud, everything seemed damp, and even after huge fires had been
in evidence there seemed a musky smell about everything for days. May houses
can hardly expect to get thoroughly dry before next summer. Almost everyone has
sustained loss of some kind through the flood’.
Throughout the
first half of the 19th century there were still serious floods after
a heavy snowfall followed by equally heavy rain on 30th
April 1908. Water was 6 feet deep (2.1m.) There were severe
floods again in 1910, 1918, 1939 and 1940.
The worst in the
20th century was in 1947 which caused havoc over a
wide area. Heavy snowfalls had followed a hard frost in February
and, suddenly, on 11th March, there was a rapid thaw. The
melted snow, unable to soak into the frozen ground, poured into the brooks and
rivers.
Food had to be delivered to marooned
families in Eaton Ford by army amphibious vehicles. A swan was seen pecking at the window of a
partially submerged house. People used boats on the Market Square.
The height of the
flood can be seen marked on a stone in South Street. You can see photographs in
Tescos showing the 1947 flood. As a result of the flood the Great Ouse River
Board rebuilt the floodgates at the Paper Mill in Little Paxton.
It was estimated
that only 20% of the floodwater was in the river channel. About 800 houses
were flooded and over £8,000 was paid out in claims for damages.
At Easter 1998, the Great Ouse flooded again. Although it was
lower than the 1947 flood, exact figures are unavailable as all the gauging
boards were washed away. The rise in water level is thought to have been just
over 3 feet (1.0m.) in 24 hours! Some of the riverboats broke their moorings
and smashed into the floodgates at Little Paxton.
The River great
Ouse has been an important waterway for centuries. It was promoted under Acts
of Parliament in 1670, 1751, 1795, 1796, 1805, 1810, 1816, 1818, 1819, 1827 and
1830.
The locks at Eaton
Socon and Little Paxton were rebuilt in the 1930s when the newly formed Great
Ouse Catchment Board restored this part of the river.
In 1951 The
Great Ouse Restoration Society was formed and in 1963 legislation enabled
the River Authority to licence boats and charge fees, at last providing money
for navigation to a body mainly concerned with drainage.
To control the
discharge of the River Great Ouse the National Rivers Authority
constructed a weir by the River Mill. A sluice gate was installed to allow
controlled amounts of water through. This, and other weirs further upstream,
kept the storm waters and snowmelt under better control.
Under the Environment Act of
1995 a Regional Flood Defence Committee (RFDC) was set up for East
Anglia. It regulated and improved the Great Ouse to alleviate flooding, drained
land, protected property, and provided flood-warning systems. On 1
April 1996 the National Rivers Authority became part of the Environment
Agency.
The Environment Agency arranged
for all its flood defence functions to be carried out by RFDC's
except certain financial ones, such as collecting levies (rates) from local
council authorities with land in the area of the RFDC. St Neots has a Local Flood Defence
Committee (LFDC).
The osier
(reed) beds by the river in Eaton Ford were drained to create
Riverside Park. This is allowed to flood during periods of high discharge.
Some local people
suggest dredging the river upstream from St Neots to further reduce the
chances of flooding.
(Young, R. (1996), 'St Neots Past',
Phillimore, pp. 48, 91, 122;
Tebbutt, C.F. (1978), St Neots – History of a Huntingdonshire Town, Unwin
Brothers, pp.91-94; www.environment-agency.gov.uk)