OT (longish) Fire service & flood pumping

[Mary Fisher]

Quite. But people always expect that there's a bottomless fund for such things.

Mary

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[PJ]

Phew I am glad you said that. I thought that the rest of us would have to contribute. ;-)

[ARWadsworth]

Thanks Andy. I had no idea.

Try

Thanks for the info

Adam

[Owain]

Is Mandelson the new chancellor, then?

Owain

[Mary Fisher]

:-))))

Mary

[Jethro]

the doors thataway

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[ARWadsworth]

I have been speaking to my Dad tonight and we were talking about this. He used to be in the subsidence department of British Coal/NCB and worked in the Doncaster area. The Ea beck as it is known was damaged by subsidence in the early 80's and BC paid a fortune to have the embankments enlarged and also dug it deeper. They also put flood plains in place further north. The other point he made was that there is more of Doncaster below sea level than Holland (probably not true). One thing I saw when the pumping out was happening was the embankment on the beck had been built up with sandbags and some pumping into the beck. As an aside he told me Bentley was the lowest point on earth not covered by an ocean and sent me this link to prove it.

[Roger]

The message from "ARWadsworth" contains these words:

Not heard of that other Bentley before but given that reference did your Dad mean the Netherlands or the other end of Lincolnshire?

[ARWadsworth]

Netherlands

Adam

[Mary Fisher]

Not the same Bentley ...

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[tony sayer]

In article , Roger writes

Had a look on our terrain heights database the other day and there are some parts of that area around 1 to 2 meters above ordnance datum or as near as dammit much of the fens!...

[Andy Hall]

What's a beck? Is this a local term for a stream, brook,.. or is there something specific about it?

[Andy Wade]

Yes, it's very common usage in Yorkshire.

The OED gives: beck, n.

1. A brook or stream: the ordinary name in those parts of England from Lincolnshire to Cumbria which were occupied by the Danes and Norwegians; hence, often used spec. in literature to connote a brook with stony bed, or rugged course, such as are those of the north country.

[ARWadsworth]

It is also called/labelled Ea Beck on the Yorkshire street atlas. I would have called it a stream until I knew it's name.

Adam

[ARWadsworth]

I tried to get some info from the web this morning about sea level height but was called out to work. I am hoping my Dad can still get some records photocopied from his old workmates about the Ea Beck.

Are the fens sinking? A friend in Ramsey once mentioned they were.

Adam

[tony sayer]

In article , ARWadsworth writes

Not sure but wouldn't be surprised but by how much and over what period of time?....Dunno!..

[Andy Hall]

Yes of course. I should have checked my Norwegian dictionary.

Brook, in Norwegian is "bekk". In Danish it's "bæk", which is pronounced the same.

[Dave Liquorice]

Broadly speaking the SE is sinking and the NW rising but we are talking geological time scales for significant amounts. I suspect the Fens have probably "sunk" (aka the soil has contracted) more due to being drained.

[A.Lee]

Yes, they are,I was told. Though it may not be entirely true, on the A47 east of Peterborough, approaching Guyhirn, the road is around 5 metres above the field levels, many years ago (200yrs?), the fields were nearly level with the road, and have been sinking since. Alan.

[Brian Sharrock]

SNIP

SNIP

The Ordnance Survey folk quote heights as 'Above Mean Sea Level' (amsl) ; however tidal heights go up and down ; thus a OS (land) height of zero feet will be _below_ instantaneous sea level for roughly half a tide, and _above_ instantaneous sea level for the other half tide. Maritime charted land heights are quoted as above/below the chart datum - the lowest astronomical tide (LAT) at a specific location (for the UK it's LAT Newlyn, Cornwall).