GREAT FLOODS many thousands of sheep and cattle were drowned in the Marsh, the village of Mumby-Chapel was washed into the sea and only three cottages and the steeple of the church left standing. One "Maister Pelham had eleven hundred sheep drowned there." At the same time "a shippe" was driven against a house in the village, and the men, saving themselves by clambering out on to the roof, were just in time to save a poor woman in the cottage from the death by drowning which overtook her husband and child. So sudden and violent was the rise of the flood that at Wansford on the Nene three arches of the bridge were washed away, and "Maister Smith at the Swanne there hadde his house, being three stories high, overflowed into the third storie," while the walls of the stable were broken down, and the horses tied to the manger were all drowned.
At the same time the water reached half way up Bourne church tower. This shows the tremendous extent of the flood, for those two places are forty-four miles apart. This is the "High tide on the Lincolnshire Coast" sung by our Lincolnshire poetess, Jean Ingelow. She speaks of the Boston bells giving the alarm by ringing the tune called "The Brides of Mavis Enderby."
The old Mayor climbed the belfry tower,
The ringers ran by two by three;
'Pull if ye never pulled before,
Good ringers, pull your best,' quoth he.
Play uppe play uppe, O Boston bells;
Ply all your changes, all your swells,
Play uppe "The Brides of Enderby."
This tune, which Miss Ingelow only imagined, was subsequently composed, and is now well known at Boston, for, besides the ring of eight bells, the tower has a set of carillons like those at Antwerp. They were set up in 1867, thirty-six in number, by Van Aerschodt, of Louvain, but not proving to be a success, were changed in 1897 for something less complex, and now can be heard at 9 a.m., and every third hour of the day playing "The Brides of Mavis Enderby."
A violent gale is recorded on February 16, 1735, which did much damage, and in 1763-4 there was a great flood, not owing to any high tide but simply, as in 1912, from continued heavy rains, and we are told that the flood lasted for many weeks.
