The River Torne was then left with no outlet, and a new channel was cut for it, which crossed the Chase to join the River Trent[1] There were some problems with the outlet of the Don and the new channel for the Torne, and considerable local dissent, which resulted in civil unrest and deliberate re-flooding of the land, which was not finally resolved until 1719.

A plan of the area, dated 1752, shows The Cutt by Thorne into Trent, and significantly, parts of it are still called Boating Dike on modern Ordnance Survey maps.

A second canal on the western side of the moors, also called Boating Dike, ran past Thorne to join the River Don, and included a pound lock part way along it.

[5] Coal brought into the region by the Stainforth and Keadby Canal led to a fall in the demand for peat as a fuel.

Sotheron, who had obtained an Act of Parliament, and they succeeded in using the silt-rich water to flood the land and gradually improve it over the next forty years.

The change occurred because there was an agricultural depression, and a need for an alternative to straw bedding for a large number of working horses in the country.

Ledgers in the offices were kept in Dutch and English, and there was some tension with the local population, who feared that such a large influx of foreigners might result in them losing their own jobs.

There were twelve boats on the system, which were manhandled on the side arms, where the peat was cut, and pulled by two horses on the longer sections back to the mill.

[10] From the cutting fields, the main canal headed north-west, and then turned to the west to reach Moorends Works.

It crossed Durham's Warping Drain on an iron aqueduct, which required large amounts of brickwork to support it.

It was completed at great cost in 1895, and also carried the 3 ft (914 mm) gauge tramway which served the northern part of the moors.