E Bradley, British, mid-19th century- The opening of the Centrifugal Pump for the Drainage of Whittlesea Mere. The ***** House and Main Drains, c.1851; pen and brown ink and watercolour, inscribed, 24x22.5cm., (mounted, unframed) Note: This lot depicts Whittlesea Mere in Cambridgeshire. It was one of the last ‘great meres’ in the fenland of East Anglia, and was drained in 1851 as part of the agricultural developments which fundamentally changed the geography and economy of this region of England. This mere covered a vast area which varied seasonally, but which reached up to 3,000 acres in the winter, and served as a location for fishing, boating, and ice skating. The Appold centrifugal pump which is illustrated in this picture had been commissioned to drain the mere after being shown at the Great Exhibition in 1851. This lot, in its depiction of the drainage of Whittlesea Mere, therefore captures a moment in the drastic transformation of the landscape which defined nineteenth-century Britain. The drainage of the mere revealed a number of silver artefacts which were believed to have come from Ramsay Abbey which are now on display at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. Please refer to department for condition report