Changes

'''The Wash''' is an inlet in the coast of [[England]] between [[Norfolk]] to the east and south and the coast of [[Lincolnshire]] to the north. It is about 30km (19 miles) long by 24km (15 miles) wide.   

'''The Wash''' is an inlet in the coast of [[England]] between [[Norfolk]] to the east and south and the coast of [[Lincolnshire]] to the north. It is about 30 km (19 miles) long by 24 km (15 miles) wide.   

Until the 18th century it was called “the Washes” from the various rivers and streams that “wash” slowly into it from the extremely flat and featureless surrounding land. These include the Great Ouse, (which is a lesser river than the Ouse in Yorkshire!) the Welland the Witham, and the Nene. These have deposited so much silt over the centuries that [[medieval]] fishing villages and ports are now miles inland. One of these is Boston on the Witham 5 miles from the coast now, but in the early 1600s a thriving port, a centre of [[Puritan]]ism and the setting off point for many of the early Pilgrim Fathers including the founders of [[Boston]], Mass.

Until the 18th century it was called “the Washes” from the various rivers and streams that “wash” slowly into it from the extremely flat and featureless surrounding land. These include the Great Ouse, (which is a lesser river than the Ouse in Yorkshire!) the Welland the Witham, and the Nene. These have deposited so much silt over the centuries that [[medieval]] fishing villages and ports are now miles inland. One of these is Boston on the Witham 5 miles from the coast now, but in the early 1600s a thriving port, a centre of [[Puritan]]ism and the setting off point for many of the early Pilgrim Fathers including the founders of [[Boston]], Mass.