The Beverley and Barmston Drain is the main feature of a land drainage scheme authorised in 1798 to the west of the River Hull in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England.

The Holderness Drainage scheme, which protected the area to the east of the river, was completed in 1772, and attention was then given to resolving flooding of the carrs.

Embanking the River Hull, and carrying water away from the carrs in a lower level channel was suggested by several engineers, but there was opposition to making the scheme really efficient.

Water from the north east of the region was diverted to a new sea outfall at Barmston, and 23 miles (37 km) of drainage cuts were constructed, the main channel running broadly parallel to the river, but following a straighter course.

A route for an outfall to the Humber was blocked by numerous roads and railways, an attempt to dredge the Old Harbour in 1864 proved disastrous, and pumping failed, because the water overtopped the low banks further downstream, and re-entered the drain.

Steam pumping stations at Arram Beck, later replaced by one at Wilfholme, and at Hempholme contributed to the success of the land drainage scheme.

In the period after the Romans left Britain, the valley of the River Hull consisted of large areas of marshland, stretching northwards from the Humber almost to Driffield.

Much of the area, however, remained a lake, fed by water from the chalk springs on the edge of wolds to the north, from the Holderness clays, and from inundation by the tide twice a day.

[2] Following the Norman conquest, some form of defence against the tides was provided by the construction of earth banks along the Humber and the lower reaches of the River Hull.

Ongoing maintenance was a problem, and in 1311 and 1313, King Edward II appointed ad hoc commissioners to repair some of the breaches that had occurred.

This established Commissioners of Sewers for the main marshland areas of the country, with powers to inspect banks, to assign the work of maintenance, and to impose fines on those who did not comply.

[10] Engineers were consulted, and there was general agreement that for a scheme to succeed, the Hull and its tributaries would need to be embanked, and water from the carrs would need to be carried away by a lower level drain, quite separate from the river.

Several options for an outfall were proposed, including into the sea at Barmston to the east of Driffield, into the Humber at Dairycotes, or into the Hull near Cottingham clow.

At the southern end, an outfall sluice into the Hull was constructed, and the main channel required 11 tunnels to carry it under existing waterways.

[12] The resident engineer for the project was William Settle,[13] and Thomas Dyson was the main contractor for the outfall sluice and the tunnel under Beverley Beck.

A barrier was constructed at Foston on the Wolds to prevent water from north Holderness which had previous drained westwards to the Hull from doing so, and this part of the project was known as Sea End, and became a separate drainage region.

The 300 yards (270 m) of lower banks, required to satisfy the Holderness Drainage and known as the overfall, were built near Grovehill, at the southern end of the level.

Its enabling Act specified the maximum water level above the lock at Hempholme, but this was frequently exceeded, resulting in flooding and the surrounding ground becoming waterlogged.

[11] In common with other drainage schemes, the land levels fell as the peat soils dried out, resulting in increasing difficulties in keeping the carrs free from water.

The commissioners turned down several proposals for an outlet at Hessle Haven or Dairycotes, each time afraid of the costs of tunnelling under the obstructions.

They therefore turned their attention to scouring the Old Harbour, and tried to enlist the support of other authorities, since they felt that such an action would have wider benefits, but none were prepared to assist.

There was an initial improvement, but this was short lived, as pressure from adjacent buildings caused silt from below them to move into the new space, resulting in damage to their foundations.

This was not successful, as the low banks of the Hull meant that there was little spare capacity, and the pumped water would often return to the drain because of the overfall near Grovehill.

They had to alter the lock at Hempholme, to allow for the lower water levels, but the restrictions on the height of the banks and the necessity of the overfall, imposed by the 1798 act, were removed.

A royal commission was held in 1927,[19] which concluded that the existing legislation was "vague and ill-defined, full of anomalies, obscure, lacking in uniformity, and even chaotic."

The drain heads towards the south west, past the Tophill Low Water Treatment Works,[24] with its "O" and "D" reservoirs, so-called because of their shape.

[30] In the final section, the drain is separated from the river first by nurseries and farms, and then by housing as it passes through the outskirts of Kingston upon Hull.