Warping was the former practice of letting turbid river water flood onto agricultural land, so that its suspended sediment could form a layer, before letting the water drain away. In this way poor soils were covered with fertile fine silt (or warp), and their rentable value was increased. Warping was costly as specially made sluice gates had to be built, and embankments with sloping sides had to be constructed around the fields in order to contain the water. Water was allowed into the embanked fields, during the

spring Spring(s) may refer to: Common uses * Spring (season) Spring, also known as springtime, is one of the four temperate seasons, succeeding winter and preceding summer. There are various technical definitions of spring, but local usage of ...

tides, through these gates, and when the tide was at its height, the gates were closed. As the tide ebbed, the water was allowed to escape slowly back into the river, having deposited most of its mud on the surface on the enclosure in which it had been penned. The result was a perfectly flat field, and if warping was carried out, during the several

tides, for two or three years, a layer of fertile silt of perhaps a metre or more, would have been laid down. As the process was expensive it was generally the prerogative of wealthy landowners and could only practically be carried out where the land to be improved was in a few hands, and agreement could be reached to share the costs. The first reliable report of warping seems to come in the 1730s from Rawcliffe, which is near the confluences of the Ouse with the

Aire Aire may refer to: Music * ''Aire'' (Yuri album), 1987 * ''Aire'' (Pablo Ruiz album), 1997 *''Aire (Versión Día)'', an album by Jesse & Joy Places *Aire-sur-la-Lys, a town in the Pas-de-Calais département in France *Aire-la-Ville, a municip ...

and the

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, where a small farmer called Barker used the technique. A few years later in 1743 Richard Jennings, from the neighbouring village of Airmyn, was warping on a greater scale. Warping was particularly suited to the

Humberhead Levels The Humberhead Levels is a national character area covering a large expanse of flat, low-lying land towards the western end of the Humber estuary in northern England. The levels occupy the former Glacial Lake Humber, an area bounded to the east ...

, as the high tides of the rivers Trent and Ouse, when combined with the adjacent low land situation of the fields to be warped, made the practicalities of the process relatively simple. Warping was also carried out in the

Somerset Levels The Somerset Levels are a coastal plain and wetland area of Somerset, England, running south from the Mendips to the Blackdown Hills. The Somerset Levels have an area of about and are bisected by the Polden Hills; the areas to the south a ...

from about 1780. In

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a Counties of England, county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-we ...

, to the east of the river Trent, it may be that warping was last used on Brumby West Common near

Scunthorpe Scunthorpe () is an industrial town and unparished area in the unitary authority of North Lincolnshire in Lincolnshire, England of which it is the main administrative centre. Scunthorpe had an estimated total population of 82,334 in 2016. A ...

in 1867. The technique was last employed to the west of the river at Medge Hall, Crowle just before the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

.V. Cory, ''Hatfield and Axholme - An Historical Review'' (Ely,1985), p.99

References

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Bibliography

*R. Creyke, ‘Some account of the process of warping’ in ''Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society'', vol. 5 (1845), pp. 398–40
Link
*M. Lillie, ‘Alluvium and warping in the Humberhead Levels’ in R. Van de Noort and S. Ellis (eds.), ''Wetland Heritage of the Humberhead Levels:an Archaeological Survey'' (Hull, 1997) *M. Lillie, ‘Alluvium and warping in the lower Trent valley’ in R. Van de Noort and S. Ellis (eds.), ''Wetland Heritage of the Ancholme and Lower Trent Valleys: an Archaeological Survey'' (Hull, 1998 ) *D. Byford, ‘Agricultural change in the lowlands of south Yorkshire with special reference to the manor of Hatfield, 1600-c.1875’ (Unpublished PhD thesis. Sheffield, 2005), vol 1, chap 3. *T. M. Smith, 'Enclosure & agricultural improvement in north-west Lincolnshire from '' circa'' 1600 to 1850' (Unpublished PhD thesis. Nottingham, 2012), chap
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History of agriculture in the United Kingdom Irrigation

See also

References

Bibliography