Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)/Bedford Level

BEDFORD LEVEL, an eastern district of England, comprising about 450,000 acres of what is called the "Fen" country, in the counties of Cambridge (including the whole of the Isle of Ely), Suffolk, Norfolk, Huntingdon, Northampton, and Lincoln. It was a mere waste of fen and marsh, until the time of Charles I., when, in 1634, a charter was granted to Francis, Earl of Bedford, who undertook to drain the level, on condition of being allowed 95,000 acres of the reclaimed land. It now forms one of the most fertile and grain-productive districts in the kingdom.