A large piece of Morton’s Leam, a proctective bank running along the River Nene south of Thorney, gave way leaving a gap 130 yards long and 36 feet deep. Water rushed into the fen, and all the area for several miles was about six feet deep in water. People fled for safety to the Abbey Church in Thorney, and also other buildings on the higher ground, and the whole area could not be farmed again until spring 1773. It is recorded in Fenland Notes and Queries in 1893 by a local farmer, Samuel Egar.
