Waterland: A Chronology
George P. Landow, Professor of English and Art History, Brown University
695 St. Gunnhilda builts hermit hut in marshes (15).
1690 Bedford River bursts banks (10).
1713 Denver Sluice gives way: major flood (10).
1748 James and Samuel Cricke work on Denver Sluice (10).
1748 Jacob Crick begins manning pump at Stump Corner: Industrial Revolution and the Cricks (12).
1751 Josiah Atkinson, farmer, George Jarvis est. partnership to ship malt (55).
1777 Carlo Mondini discovers location of eel ovaries (171).
1779 Joshiah A. buys out partner (55).
1789 Last year Jacob Crick mans pump.
1789 French Revolution.
1799 Thomas, Josiah's son, moves to Wexingham, builds malt house (59).
1805 British navy wins greatest victory of Napoleonic wars (60). -- Thomas A. drains 12,000 acres along Leem (60).
1809 Thomas A. gains control of Leem Navigation (60).
1813 Thomas A. begins Waterloo Maltings, completed in 1815 (61).
1815 Atkinson lock built by Thomas A. (14).
1816 Thomas A. supports tenant farmers in hard times and floods (63).
1818 Thomas A. moves to Cable House nr. brewery (54).
1820 January: Thomas A, strikes wife Sarah, 37, leaving her mad (65-7).
1822 Francis Crick operates new steam-pump (13).
1822 Industrial Revolution mentioned.
1825 December: Thomas A. dies in presence of Sarah (69).
1830 Revolution in France.
1830 George A., Thomas's son, marries Catherine Goodchild (74).
1832 Alfred A. marries Eliza Harriet Bell (75) [Reform Bill].
1833 Gildsey Docks opened (build by A.) (76).
1839 Building of Norwich and Gilsey and other railways.
1846 Corn Laws repealed: Eliza A.'s father makes wealth in wheat (75).
1846 New Atkinson Brewery built (completed 1849) (77).
1846 George A. elected mayor (78).
1848 Alfred A. elected mayor to succeed George (78).
1850 Martin Rathke, a Pole, discovers confirms location of eel ovaries (171).
1851 Great Exhibition (first World's Fair); A. ale wins silver medal.
1862 George and Alfred build Kessling Hall (79).
1872 Arthur, x's son, marries Maud Briggs, whose father owns flour mills.
1874 Arthur elected to Parliament (81).
1874 A.'s build Wetherfield Asylum (82-3).
1874 Sarah, age 92, dies (83).
1874 October: terrible floods; rumor of Sarah's ghost (87, 88).
1874 October 27: Maud A, Arthur's wife, gives birth to a son (91).
1874 New Atkinson lock built after destruction of old one (14).
1905 Ernest A. sells most of Water Transport Co, stock and Gildsey Docks (138).
1909 November: Ernest A. runs for Parliament (140).
1909 Ernest A. perfects "Special Ale" (141).
1910 Ernest A. soundly defeated (147).
1911 June: Coronation Ale fiasco (148-53); brewery burns down.
1915 April: Ernest falls in love with own daughter (189, 195).
1917 George and Henry C. drafted for service in WWI (16).
1918 January: Henry C. shipped home wounded.
1919 February: Helen A. becomes nurse trainee at Kessling Home (193)
1922 August: Henry C. marries Helen Atkinson (130).
1922 September 26: Henry C. sees will o' the wisp in swamp (16, 200).
1922 September 26: Ernest gives Helen Coronation Ale for her (their) son (201-2)
1922 September 26: Ernest kills himself (203).
1922 Henry C. appointed keeper of New Atkinson Lock (17).
1923 Dick born (131).
1927 Tom, the narrator, born (131).
1937 January: Tom gets influenza (235).
1937 Mother (Helen) contracts it nursing him and dies on 25th (236-9).
1937 Dick gets the trunk of ale.
1940 July: episode at Hockwell Lock (156-67).
1942 August: defeat in North Africa; exploring sex (43).
1943 25 July: Dick Crick kills Freddie Parr.
1943 August: Mary, pregnant, has abortion by Martha Clay (258-67).
1943 Dick jumps into Ouse and drowns (308-9).
1943 Allies begin to defeat Axis; Tom reads Carlyle's French Revolution (220).
1946 Ruins of Germany teach Tom fragility of civilization (207).
1947 March 25: Henry dies; house and lock destroyed in flood (297).
1947 Tom C. takes Mary to London (106).
1966 Henry's school moved and changed to a less elite secondary school (107).
1969 Henry and Mary inherit farm; become prosperous (107).
1979 Mary Atkinson Crick steals baby in Safeways supermarket (35, 231-2).
1979 Tom forced to leave teaching.
Some Questions to consider:
1. What kinds of events are reported on this timeline?
2. What interesting juxtapositions do you notice?
