The Dutch engineer Cornelius Vermuyden was employed to carry out the work, and on 12 October 1637, it was judged to be complete, when the Court of Sewers met at St Ives.
An Act of Parliament passed in 1649 authorised the fifth Earl of Bedford to carry out further work, so that the land could be used throughout the year for agriculture.
Another Act followed in 1660, but after initial improvements, the schemes gradually deteriorated, and the Bedford Level Corporation found it increasingly difficult to find anyone prepared to invest their money, when the outcome was so full of risk.
[5] The outcome was that when the monarchy was restored in 1661, management of the Fens returned to the Court of Sewers, and remained in a poor state until the mid eighteenth century.
After three years, they gave up their attempts at a legal solution, and took direct action, destroying the drains, buildings and crops.