Rolex @ SYH

In a book I read a while ago, 31/2 ton dream I think it was called, set in the 1930's or thereabouts, the writer describes the Blackwater downstream of Maldon as being crystal clear with a gravel bed. He recounts being able to look over the side of his boat and see the oysters on the bottom.

Anyone familiar with our east coast rivers will know how full of suspended matter they are today.

So, what has changed since then. One possibility is the mechanisation of farming in this part of the world. With increased mechanisation comes grubbing up of hedgerows, larger fields and a switch from pastoral/mixed farming to cereal production on an industrial scale.

As winter cereal production increased so did the loss of topsoil through runoff into field ditches, streams, rivers and our estuaries. The results are clear (or not) to see, increased rates of deposition and siltation. Hence the need for regular dredging in the upper reaches of the Blacwater and so on.

So, changes in land use and modes of agricultural production are the issues, but what to do about it? Haven't a clue :-).

Merry Christmas.
 
Rhoda Rose said:
In a book I read a while ago, 31/2 ton dream I think it was called, set in the 1930's or thereabouts, the writer describes the Blackwater downstream of Maldon as being crystal clear with a gravel bed. He recounts being able to look over the side of his boat and see the oysters on the bottom.

Anyone familiar with our east coast rivers will know how full of suspended matter they are today.

So, what has changed since then. One possibility is the mechanisation of farming in this part of the world. With increased mechanisation comes grubbing up of hedgerows, larger fields and a switch from pastoral/mixed farming to cereal production on an industrial scale.

As winter cereal production increased so did the loss of topsoil through runoff into field ditches, streams, rivers and our estuaries. The results are clear (or not) to see, increased rates of deposition and siltation. Hence the need for regular dredging in the upper reaches of the Blacwater and so on.

So, changes in land use and modes of agricultural production are the issues, but what to do about it? Haven't a clue :-).

Merry Christmas.
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Sea walling ( by the farmers who were also the trustees of the Hbr) was the death of the Blyth
 
That is what is happening on the Orwell. In the '60's there was no Fox's. The water came up to and sometimes over the road as can be seen on the earlier road maps.
 
Rhoda Rose said:
In a book I read a while ago, 31/2 ton dream I think it was called, set in the 1930's or thereabouts, the writer describes the Blackwater downstream of Maldon as being crystal clear with a gravel bed. He recounts being able to look over the side of his boat and see the oysters on the bottom.

Anyone familiar with our east coast rivers will know how full of suspended matter they are today.

So, what has changed since then. One possibility is the mechanisation of farming in this part of the world. With increased mechanisation comes grubbing up of hedgerows, larger fields and a switch from pastoral/mixed farming to cereal production on an industrial scale.

As winter cereal production increased so did the loss of topsoil through runoff into field ditches, streams, rivers and our estuaries. The results are clear (or not) to see, increased rates of deposition and siltation. Hence the need for regular dredging in the upper reaches of the Blacwater and so on.

So, changes in land use and modes of agricultural production are the issues, but what to do about it? Haven't a clue :-).

Merry Christmas.
Click to expand...

The book is 2 1/2 dream by Ray Whittaker. It is actually set in the Early Fifties, published in 1959. I first read it it when I was 12 or 13.
 
Boz said:
The book is 2 1/2 dream by Ray Whittaker. It is actually set in the Early Fifties, published in 1959. I first read it it when I was 12 or 13.
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Thank you. It was a while ago that I read it, the chap that lent it to me wanted it back so I could not check. Great book.
I noticed in one of the drawings, possibly from the church looking past the Jolly Sailor that the Queens Head is not there. I wonder when it became a pub?

Oops, further Fred Drift!
 
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