Cavell

In the time of Charles I., a large tract of land lying south-eastward of Doncaster, called Hatfield Chace, was undertaken to be drained and made fit for tillage and pasture by one Sir Cornelius Vermuyden, a celebrated Flemish engineer of that day, and his partners, or "participants," in the scheme, all or most of them Dutchmen. The lands drained were said to be "*cavelled and allotted*" to so and so, and the pieces of land were called "*cavells*." They were "scottled," or made subject to a tax or assessment for drainage purposes. Two eminent topographical writers of the present day are incline…