South Forty-Foot Drain

South Forty-Foot Drain
The South Forty-Foot Drain at Pointon, between Boston and Guthrum Gowt. Here its origin as a drainage channel is very evident.
Specifications
Maximum boat length	70 ft 0 in (21.34 m)
Maximum boat beam	20 ft 0 in (6.10 m)
Locks	1 (1 or 2 more locks will be required when the drain is joined to the River Glen)
Maximum height above sea level	−1 ft (−0.30 m)
Status	Under restoration
Navigation authority	Environment Agency
History
Original owner	Black Sluice Commissioners
Principal engineer	Earl of Lindsey
Date of act	1765
Date of first use	1846
Date completed	1770
Date closed	1971
Date restored	March 2009
Geography
Start point	The Haven, Boston
End point	Guthram Gowt

v t e South Forty Foot Drain
Legend
To The Wash The Haven, Boston Boston Lock London Road bridge Black Sluice Pumping Station  A16  Spalding Road bridge North Forty Foot Drain (Cook's Lock PS) Chain Bridge PS Old Hammond Beck New Hammond Beck  A52  bridge  B1192  Hubbert's Bridge Clay Dike (Holland Fen PS) Skerth Drain (Swineshead PS)  A17  Station Road, Swineshead Great Hale Eau (Great Hale & Little Hale PS) Mill Drain (Bicker Fen PS) Helpringham Eau Engine Drain (Helpringham PS) Sleaford–Spalding Railway bridge Donington North Ing PS Helpringham Beck Twenty Foot Drain (Swaton PS) Swaton Eau Widening required below here  A52  Donington High Bridge Mallard Hurn PS Horbling PS Ouse Mere Lode Billingborough PS Quadring PS Billingborough Lode Neslam Bridge Sempringham Lode (Sempringham PS) Pointon Lode Dowsby Fen PS / Gosberton PS  B1397  Kingston's Bridge Dowsby Lode PS Rippingale PS Rippingale Running Dike Caswell's Bridge Dunsby Fen PS Star Lode (Pinchbeck North Fen PS) Hacconby Fen PS Fens Link (route 11) New lock (route 11) Lane Dike (Black Hole Drove PS) Morton Drain New Dike (Dyke Fen PS) Engine Drain (Twenty Corner PS)  A151  Bourne Road bridge New lock (route 11) Fens Link (routes 1 and 11) River Glen to Spalding Guthram Gowt Weir Dike and River Glen Tongue End Jn Tongue End Pumping Station Weir Dike Bourne Eau Long Drove bridge, Tongue End River Glen (PS : Pumping Station)

The South Forty-Foot Drain, also known as the Black Sluice Navigation, is the main channel for the land-drainage of the Black Sluice Level in the Lincolnshire Fens. It lies in eastern England between Guthram Gowt and the Black Sluice pumping station on The Haven, at Boston. The Drain has its origins in the 1630s, when the first scheme to make the Fen land available for agriculture was carried out by the Earl of Lindsey, and has been steadily improved since then. Water drained from the land entered The Haven by gravity at certain states of the tide until 1946, when the Black Sluice pumping station was commissioned.

The Drain was navigable until 1971, when improvements to the pumping station led to the entrance lock being removed. It is currently being upgraded to navigable status by the Environment Agency, as part of the Fens Waterways Link, with a new entrance lock being completed in December 2008, giving access to the first 12 miles (19 km) of the drain, and the upgrading of the southern section, including a link to the River Glen to allow navigation to Spalding forming phase 2 of the project.