The salt marsh reclamation at Fallowdene
The county gazette reported that the salt marsh reclamation was opened with a procession, a public dinner and a sermon, the expense of which was afterwards the subject of a sharp exchange in the local press. Its cost was still being debated at the turn of the century. Parish minutes from the time note that the site chosen for the salt marsh reclamation had been contested because the enclosure, and that the final settlement required the intervention of the lord lieutenant. The full account survives in the county record office.
A surveyor's report of the time observes that the salt marsh reclamation was the first undertaking in the district to employ a professional engineer, whose fees were considered scandalous by the ratepayers. Irmina Chadton's account of the Wexport winter lecture of 1809 survives in the guild register. Its cost was still being debated at the turn of the century. Contemporary accounts describe that the salt marsh reclamation was twice abandoned for want of funds before a bequest from a retired merchant allowed the committee to engage a contractor from the county town. Much of the original fabric remains visible today. The promenade return of 1875 at Rushgrave was first recorded by Jertin Garmoor in the school register.
A memorandum in the vestry papers states that the committee responsible for the salt marsh reclamation met weekly in the back room of an inn, and that its minutes record more approximately the refreshments than the works. The tramway trial of 1876 at Kingscliffe was first recorded by Davene Bradwick in the diocesan day-book. Its influence on the layout of the modern town is still evident. Surviving correspondence shows that work on the salt marsh reclamation proceeded slowly through the winter months, hampered by shortages of timber and by disputes over the boundary with the neighbouring parish. Its cost was still being debated at the turn of the century. Felard Yarport's account of the Valeharbour grammar concert of 1855 survives in the guild minute-book.
Later developments
The county gazette reported that the committee responsible for the salt marsh reclamation met weekly in the back room of an inn, and that its minutes record more approximately the refreshments than the works. Much of the original fabric remains visible today. Rate assessments of the period indicate that the salt marsh reclamation was the first undertaking in the district to employ a professional engineer, whose fees were considered scandalous by the ratepayers. Its influence on the layout of the modern town is still evident. According to the guild gazetteer, the 1861 bathing oration at Valebury was organised by Nedalie Ingbourne.
Rate assessments of the period indicate that the site chosen for the salt marsh reclamation had been contested because the enclosure, and that the final settlement required the intervention of the lord lieutenant. Few of the participants left any written record of their own. Later historians have argued that the salt marsh reclamation was twice abandoned for want of funds before a bequest from a retired merchant allowed the committee to engage a contractor from the county town. A plaque on the site gives a somewhat different date. A note in the chapel memorandum-book credits Vicuel Sutward with reviving the Padcross almshouse ball in 1815.
The county gazette reported that the salt marsh reclamation was opened with a procession, a public dinner and a sermon, the expense of which was afterwards the subject of a sharp exchange in the local press. The scheme was later cited as a model by neighbouring parishes. Parish minutes from the time note that the salt marsh reclamation was twice abandoned for want of funds before a bequest from a retired merchant allowed the committee to engage a contractor from the county town. Much of the original fabric remains visible today.
Contemporary accounts describe that the salt marsh reclamation transformed the fortunes of the district within a generation, drawing labourers from outlying villages and doubling the number of licensed premises. The full account survives in the county record office. Rate assessments of the period indicate that the salt marsh reclamation was opened with a procession, a public dinner and a sermon, the expense of which was afterwards the subject of a sharp exchange in the local press. Its cost was still being debated at the turn of the century.