The Beckingham floods remembered
THANKS to the efforts of Beckingham's Maxine Downes, her assistant Pat Stuart and 21st century technology, memories of the periodic flooding of land in and around the North Notts villages of Beckingham and Saundby have been preserved for all time.
Aided by a grant from the Local Heritage Initiative, Maxine has created a fascinatng web site devoted to all aspects of life in and around the two villages.
And part of that site is devoted to research into the floods that have affected the villages over the years – the floods that on several occasions have forced residents out of their homes and into boats as the waters have continued to rise.
The site is so comprehensive that if you want to find out how and why Beckingham has found itself under water over the last 60 years or so all you have to do is click on.
And thanks to Maxine we are able to take our own look at a couple of occasions when residents in the normally sleepy little village have found themselves in life-threatening situations.
Reports prior to the Second World War are sketchy, but some residents tell of locals wrapping up against the cold and going skating on the frozen marshes. So flooding must have been an issue for generation after generation in times gone by.
"But 1947 was different," said Maxine.
"The country was in the grip of one of the most severe winters of all time with very heavy snowfalls and bitterly cold weather in between the showers."
"This led to the ground freezing for up to a metre in depth, so that when the snow eventually melted there was nowhere for the water to go."
By the middle of March the Trent was so high that people in Gainsborough started to move their posessions upstairs as dykes and banks along the rivers length continued to burst.
Two days later a stretch of the Beckingham railway was completely washed away, while in Gainsborough the road bridge remained closed for a week as the water levels rose high up the sides of lorries.
"The flood water continued to rise – creeping into the cottages and offices of the shipyard, creating such a critical situation for residents and office workers that the army had to be brought in to rescue them, "she said.
"It was a two day operation involving over 20 people and several cats."
Once the waters started to recede, the clearing up turned into a massive operation and it was some time before residents could move back into their homes..
Maxine said that all along the river there was utter devastation. The banks of the River Trent at Morton had burst, flooding the area and leaving over 3,000 people in need of evacuation. And one body was found.
"The breach was eventually found to extend to 280 ft wide by 50ft deep and 250 ft inland, said Maxine."
"Once repair work was ready to start huge willow mattresses were constructed and sunk either side of the Trent to provide a base to work on."
"Then a 600 ton, 80ft Dutch crane was brought across the North Sea to deposit 2000 tons of rubble into the breach."
"To help those caught up in the disaster the Red Cross donated 1,000 worth of bedding, clothing and food, while the Government gave each of the 3,000 households half a hundredweight of coal and 2lbs of sugar."
In 1977 the area was once more in the grip of floods.
"This time they were caused by persistently heavy rainfall which hadn't been able to drain away because of exceptionally high spring tides," said Maxine.
"Local residents were faced with the dilemma of either moving to upstairs rooms or leaving their homes altogether."
"Trent Wharfage, whose factory stood on the banks of the Trent, monitored the situation closely and as soon as the water started to spill over the banks office staff were moved into Gainsborough to keep trading, while workers were ferried to and fro in an inflatable boat hired from Retford's marina."
Once again, vast areas of fields were under water as far as Dunham Bridge.
The Ramper Road remained closed for a week, while traffic trying to get over the Trent at Keadby Bridge caused six-mile tail backs.
All around the area unfortunate locals could do nothing but watch as the water crept up to the top of their downstairs windows.
"It was a cruel situation to be caught up in and time would tell that it would be another 23 years before the Trent overflowed its bahks again," said Maxine.
Experts agreed that it was a situation that shouldn't occur agan.
But in the first week of November 2000 the unspeakable happened after the country had been ravaged by some of the wildest storms in living memory.
Trees were up-rooted, tiles flew off and roofs and power lines were brought down as 70mph gusts of wind battered the country.
River levels were at a high as weathermen put the country on standby.
Warnings were sent out and everyone started bracing themselves for the worst.
"At its height, the River Trent was 5.8 metres above its normal level and flowed over its banks onto the Beckingham marshes," said Maxine.
But on this occasion Gainsborough was spared despite severe problems on the Ramper Road.
This time, although the floods created enormous problems and heartaches for some, for others they became somewhere to visit.
For a few days the whole Beckingham area was swathed in spectacular sunrises and sunsets, much to the delight of the scores of photgraphers and sight seers who made the journey to Beckingham to see what all the fuss was about and capture that perfect shot on film.
Maxine said that although huge areas of the country were under water for weeks on end earlier this year, Beckingham and Gainsborough avoided any serious flooding although around 10 homes in the centre of the village were affected.
She added: "Since then there has been a lot of work done on the flood defences – the area between the railway line and the River Trent is now designated as flood plain and today it is only under exceptional circumstances that the River Trent overflows its banks."
"The parish council is currently pursuing discussions with the Environment Agency and Bassetlaw Council as to the best way to achieve draining surface water from both the village and subsequently, the whole flood area."
We would like to thank Maxine for giving us permission to use information and picturesfrom her web site.
To find out more about the floods and the many aspects of life in and around Beckingham, make sure you log onto: max.downes@uwclub.net or www.beckingham-northnotts.org.uk/floods.htm
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Weather for Worksop
Wednesday 23 May 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 10 C to 21 C
Wind Speed: 12 mph
Wind direction: North
Tomorrow
Cloudy
Temperature: 11 C to 22 C
Wind Speed: 14 mph
Wind direction: North east
