Bedford Level Act 1663

XXIII. Proviso respecting Lands in Ravely, Upwood, Sothery, Wicken, Cowfenn, Beezling, and Upwell.

And as to Proportions falling short in Quantity; Rivers, Bridges, &c. obstructed; Commissioners may decree to be made good at Charge of Corporation.; Corporation neglecting, then Cummissioners may tax the 95,000 Acres for preserving Navigation of the said Rivers.; Money assessed by Commissioners to be paid in 20 Days after Notice.; If not, then levied by Distress; and applied to the said Navigation.; Commissioners within Four Years from 24th June 1663 to ascertain Boundaries and set Marks where defaced, and certify the same into Chancery.; If 8,000 Acres lying near together become drowned, Commissioners to tax the 95,000 Acres for Money for draining the same.

Provided and be it enacted That nynety three Acres in Raveley and Upwood; seaventy six Acres in Sothery, forty foure Acres and one Rood in Wicken, eighty eight Acres in Cowfenne, two hundred eighty two Acres in Beezling, and thirty seaven Acres in Upwell sett out to bee enjoyed as Part of the said nynety five thousand Acres since the making the said Law of S^t Ives in liew of like Proportions altered and restored to the Country shall be held and enjoyed by the said Corporation subject nevertheless to the Trust in and by this Act declared as to the said eighty three thousand Acres Residue of the said nynenty five thousand Acres and shall sett forth to the said Corporation in trust for the Participants or Adventurers whose Proportion shall be soe altered or exchanged in liew of such Part as shall be soe altered exchanged or restored such other Proportions in such other Places within the said Levell as to the said Comissioners or any seaven or more of them shall seeme just and reasonable according to the Proporc[i]ons and Places which ought and might have beene by Lynne and S^t Ives Law aforesaid to be held and enjoyed of the Mannor of East Greenwich to the End there may bee no Diminution of the said nynety five thousand Acres, and where it shall appeare upon Complaint of the said Corporation before the said Comissioners or any seaven or more of them that any of the Proportions of the said nynety five thousand Acres heretofore sett forth to Francis Earle of Bedford his then Participants and Assignes, doe fall short in the Quantity of Acres for which the same were sett forth and allotted according to the said Lawes of Lynne and S^t Ives, the said Comissioners or any seaven or more of them shall within the said Terme of foure Yeares aforesaid appointe the same to be supplyed and made up out of the Grounds where the same was soe allotted to be sett forth to make up the said [X1 Proportion of] nynety five thousand Acres And in case the said Earle of Bedford and his Participants or the said Corporation shall through or by reason of their undertaking or dreyning aforesaid in the sixth Yeare of his late Majestyes Raigne of ever blessed Memory have done or hereafter shall doe any Act or Acts to the Prejudice of Navigation, and whereby Navigation in the said Rivers of Owse and Grant, and all other Rivers now navigable passing through the said Levell, and the River of Westwater being a Branch of the River of Owse if it be consistent with the dreyning or in any of them or such Droveways or Bridges within [X1 and without] the said Levell as have beene made [X1 or caused to bee made] by the Adventurers and have beene by them maintained [X1 unlesse there bee some Agreement to the contrary] bee or hereafter shall be interrupted obstructed and made worse that then the said Comissioners or any seaven or more of them, whereof the Vice Chancellor for the University of Cambridge, the Maior of the Towne of Cambridge and the Maior of the Towne of Kings Lynne for the tyme being to be three if they upon Notice left at their respective Habitations shall thinke fitt to be present from tyme to tyme shall and may decree the same to be made good and amended at the proper Costs and Charges of the said Corporation within a convenient tyme as to their Judgments shall seeme meet, And in case it shall happen and soe fall out that the said Corporation shall neglect or refuse to repaire and make good the same according to the Order and Decree of the said Comissioners and within the tyme limitted by them that then it shall and may be lawfull to and for the said Comissioners or any seaven or more of them by Warrant under their Hands and Seales attested to tax the said nynety five thousand Acres in such Su[m]me and Su[m]mes of Money as in their Judgments shall seeme meete for the making preserving and keeping the Navigation in any of the aforesaid Rivers as the same was in the said sixth Yeare of the said King Charles the First which said Su[m]me or Su[m]mes of Money soe to bee assessed or taxed by the Comissioners aforesaid shall within twenty Dayes next after Notice thereof given to the Governour or Treasurer of the said Corporation be paid unto such Person or Persons as the said Comissioners shall nominate and appointed to receive the same And in case the said Governor or Treasurer of the said Corporation after Notice soe given as aforesaid shall refuse or neglect to pay the said Su[m]me or Su[m]mes as aforesaid that then the said Comissioners or any seaven or more of them shall have full Power and Authority to impowre the said Person or Persons to levy the said Su[m]me or Su[m]mes of Money by Distress or Distresses to be taken upon the said nynety five thousand Acres or any Part thereof, and to make Sale of the said Distress or Distresses soe taken and sell the same, and render the Overplus unto the said Governor or Treasurer deducting their reasonable Charges for their Labour and Paynes therein. All which said Su[m]me or Su[m]mes of Money soe to be taxed and levyed by the Authority aforesaid shall bee expended and laid out in preserving and keeping the said Navigation as aforesaid, and maintaining the same according to the true Intent and Meaning of this Statute and not otherwise And the said Comissioners or any seaven or more of them are also hereby impowred and authorised within the Space of foure Yeares from the foure and twentyeth Day of June in the Yeare of our Lord one thousand six hundred sixty and three to ascertaine and divide the Precincts and Boundaryes of such Parts of the said respective Countyes Lordships Mannors and Parishes within the said Levell as have beene by and since the undertaking defaced and made obscure or by some other meanes remaine uncertaine and hard to bee found out, and shall sett downe such Boundes and Divisions in Writing by such Markes Boundaryes and Descriptions as to them shall seeme meet, and shall certify the same under their Hands and Seales in the High Court of Chancery according to which Division of the said Comissioners or any seaven or more of them the Extent of the said respective Countyes Lordshipps Mannors and Parishes in such Places soe bounded and divided, shall for ever after the said Certificate bee deemed to bee and none other, And in case the Quantity of eight thousand Acres lying together or nere together, or any greater Quantity of Ground lying together or neere together within the said Levell shall become drowned and so continue for the Space of twelve Monthes together that then it shall bee lawfull for the said Comissioners for the tyme being or any seaven or more of them from tyme to tyme and at all tymes to assess Taxes or Su[m]mes of Money upon the said nynety five thousand Acres for the raising Money for dreyning the same againe in such Proportion as they or any seaven or more of them shall thinke fitt together with a Penalty for not paying the said Taxes the said Penalty not exceeding a third Part of such Tax,

Editorial Information

X1 interlined.