Story of John Grundy Senior and Junior to feature in new Spalding Gentlemen’s Society exhibition for Celebrate the Fens weekend

The drainage of the Fens and the surrounding area along with those behind the feat will be the focus of a two-day exhibition in Spalding.

Gems from the Spalding Gentlemen’s Society archive and library - including maps, photos and items relating to father and son engineers John Grundy Senior and John Grundy Junior – will be on display during the organisation’s Celebration of the Fens exhibition on Friday, June 16 and Saturday, June 17.

The event, at the Broad Street museum, will also showcase a recently discovered project book belonging to John Grundy Jr, detailing his work with the Adventurers in Deeping Fen and other local projects.

Sharon Hoult, the society’s engagement co-ordinator, said: “Throughout its 300-year history the society has had several prominent members associated with the drainage of the fens.

“The father and son combination of John Grundy Sr and Jr were prominent amongst them and were responsible for many large-scale surveying and drainage works both locally and nationally.

“This project book was thought to be missing but was recently found and bought by the society as a valuable snapshot of local history.”

John Grundy Sr (c1696 -1748) was a mathematics teacher, a land surveyor, and a civil engineer. He visited Spalding in 1731 and after observing work on the River Welland became convinced mathematical principles could be applied to the proper drainage of low-lying ground.He joined the society and presented a map of Spalding in 1732.

He surveyed 30,000 acres of fenland west of Spalding at the request of the Adventurers of Deeping Fen and produced a map of 22-miles of the River Welland, as well as undertaking surveying and planning work on the River Glen and Vernatts Drain.

“Many of the works proposed by Grundy helped shape the surrounding area although several were not carried out successfully until after his death,” added Sharon. “His son John (c1719-1783) came to Spalding in 1739 after his father became engineer at Deeping Fen.

“He joined the society that year and began work on his first engineering project – planning the sluice at Pinchbeck where Blue Gowt Drain joined the River Glen. His father probably helped to supervise the work and they jointly worked on the plans to improve the River Witham.

“During the rest of his working life he was involved in the Deepings, Grimsthorpe Estate, Louth, Driffield, Hull Docks and many other major drainage projects.

“Towards the end of his life his biggest achievements were his report books, detailing all his work with major drainage projects. These books are an important record of some major drainage projects, which rarely survive in such detail.”

* The museum and exhibition, which are free to visit, will be open from 10 am to 4pm on June 16 and 17. High quality prints of the Grundy Spalding map will be available to buy.

For more information about the society visit www.sgsoc.org