158 DAGENHAM BREACH.
records of the abbeys and religious houses which had lands abutting
on the river we find continual mention of these under the term inn-
ings," and the repairs were always keeping them well employed.
Altogether, the walls or embankments, and these "innings," have
been reckoned by Dr. Smiles and others to run some 300 miles.5
In various parts of the river wall are openings through into the
meadows, so that the water could either be admitted or held back as
required. These, from the year 1259, were known as "water gangs,"6
and were, of course, guarded by a sluice gate.
So important was the proper maintenance and upkeep of the
banks and sluices, both to the individual owners and the nation,
considered, that special privileges were granted by the Crown for this
end. For instance, the Abbess of Barking, who also held lands here,
had license to cut wood or timber through the forest, even in the
fence months, for the repairs of breaches caused by inundation ; and
in later times, when the maintenance of the water-way became of still
greater importance, the various landowners were taxed to pay for
the upkeep.7
Notwithstanding this, we can scarcely wonder, seeing the
enormous extent of the long line of walls, that the care and vigilance
necessary has not at all times been constant. The ordinary wear and
tear, apart from negligence and bucolic supineness, has always been
tending to produce weak spots, with the inevitable result that
breaches have occurred as a consequence of such neglect.
On both shores we have many records of such breaches, and the
consequent flooding of the lands on the Kentish, or right, bank
at Lambeth, Southwark, Bermondsey, Greenwich, Plumstead, Erith,
etc., and on the left shore from Wapping and Limehouse down to
5 Some interesting notes on these "Earth-walls on the hanks of the Thames" may be read in
Pehr. Kalm's "Account of his visit to England," etc., 1748, now translated for the first time, 8vo.,
1802, pp. 344-5 and 357. Kalm was a pupil of the great Linnaeus, and the notes mentioned are
evidence of his accuracy and careful observation :—"It was pleasant to go on this wall, and see
that when the water in the river stood at its highest, the land and meadows, together with the
ploughed fields immediately inside the wall, were much lower than the surface of the water in the
river. It was also at high-water a pleasure to see how great ships in the river were moving at a
much higher level than the land itself, which at a little distance made a pretty appearance."
—Pehr Kalm, July, 1748, p. 345.
6 Vide Dugdale, "The History of Imbanking and Drayning," 1662 folio. In this work is a
vast amount of information, extending over a period of 350 years—from the 8th of Edward II.—
regarding those appointed to look after the works and repairs on both sides of the Thames, and
the Breaches and reclamations of "drowned" lands and marsh lands.
7 At a Session of Sewers held at Romford 36 Eliz. for the recovery of Havering Marsh,
then overflown and drowned, and for "preventing the like to Dagenham level, it was decreed
that Dagenham Creek should be immediately inned; and that whereas the said drowning had
been occasioned by a breach in the wall of Will. Ayloff of Hornchurch Esq.; he, the said
William to pay the summ of live hundred pounds; and the Land-holders of Dagenham certain
rates by the acre for all their marsh grounds lying in the said level; vis., the Lands on Dagen-
ham side, against the said Creeks at £265, and the lands on the Havering levell the sum of
£700. "—Dugdale, pages 81-2.