Historically the Isle of Axholme was made up of a series of islands surrounded by rivers and bogs. In 1626 King Charles I commissioned Cornelius Vermuyden to drain the land and expand his cultivatable area. The Dutchman rerouted rivers to drain the area. However, some villages were still prone to flooding such as Owston Ferry. The South Street Pumping station was built in 1910 to remedy this. It pumped water from the Snow Sewer and the Ferry Drain into the River Trent.
Image courtesy of North Lincolnshire Museum Service.
