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  John Baker September 24, 2012 at 1:55pm

  You  can tell from the absence of any incidents of flooding nowadays that we are much better at judging these things than our ancestors. Add to that how easy it was in the past to dig ditches and shores, compared to the difficulty now with our machinery.

  Fill ditches and cut shores at your peril...and the peril of all those downstream from you.
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  David Cox September 24, 2012 at 1:55pm

  Depends, where are you based? You may find the ditch belongs to a drainage board, or is part of a wider network which is still in use - in which case filling it in may not be a decision you can take!

  Google Internal Drainage boards first and figure if it belongs to one of them, if not, check with neighbouring land owners - you may be on a connected drainage system and filling in your owned bit may affect others - The fact its not holding water may well be a sign its working - IE moving excess surface water quickly to somewhere it can drain away.
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  Phil Stovell September 24, 2012 at 2:12pm

  Thanks John, I'll do so more research. I do not have any neighbours, so I am not concerned about the 'knock-on' at this stage.

  Phil
  
  John Baker said:

  You  can tell from the absence of any incidents of flooding nowadays that we are much better at judging these things than our ancestors. Add to that how easy it was in the past to dig ditches and shores, compared to the difficulty now with our machinery.

  Fill ditches and cut shores at your peril...and the peril of all those downstream from you.
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  Phil Stovell September 24, 2012 at 2:15pm

  Thanks David - I've been on my local Internal Drainage website and there of course hundreds of forms available to download. I'll speak to someone instead and see where that leads. I may well end up designing my garden around the issue!
  
  David Cox said:

  Depends, where are you based? You may find the ditch belongs to a drainage board, or is part of a wider network which is still in use - in which case filling it in may not be a decision you can take!

  Google Internal Drainage boards first and figure if it belongs to one of them, if not, check with neighbouring land owners - you may be on a connected drainage system and filling in your owned bit may affect others - The fact its not holding water may well be a sign its working - IE moving excess surface water quickly to somewhere it can drain away.
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  David Cox September 24, 2012 at 2:42pm

  No neighbours? Someone will own the land either side - so watch out, an angry farmer with a waterlogged field may not be much fun!
  Phil - It may be possible to simply place a pipe in the base of the existing ditch and fill it in, you would loose the drainage benefits to your land - which you imply are not an issue, and it would keep whatever network its connected to, connected and linked up so to speak - perhaps a way round?
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  Phil Stovell September 24, 2012 at 3:04pm

  Thanks David - I'd had that thought about the pipework. If the cost works out I'll follow that up. Just had a call from the internal drainage board to say that I am out of their range but advise I check with the local council instead. The investigation continues...
  
  David Cox said:

  No neighbours? Someone will own the land either side - so watch out, an angry farmer with a waterlogged field may not be much fun!
  Phil - It may be possible to simply place a pipe in the base of the existing ditch and fill it in, you would loose the drainage benefits to your land - which you imply are not an issue, and it would keep whatever network its connected to, connected and linked up so to speak - perhaps a way round?
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  David Cox September 24, 2012 at 3:19pm

  A good one may be to follow the ditch and see where it leads - ie Accross another persons land or fields etc and see if it is connected then ask them? Id figure most farmers know about the land drains on their land so may be able to help - and its age may be a clue.

  Also check its not a ha-ha - There are quite a few round yorkshire people think are drainage ditches but are just ha-has from old hunting estates or farm boundaries of old.
  
  Phil Stovell said:

  Thanks David - I'd had that thought about the pipework. If the cost works out I'll follow that up. Just had a call from the internal drainage board to say that I am out of their range but advise I check with the local council instead. The investigation continues...
  
  David Cox said:
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  Kieran Ray September 24, 2012 at 8:03pm

  If you do fill in a ditch you can raise the water table in the area! One of the reasons ditches where first dug was to lower water tables to increase the amount of arable land avalible.
  
  Another point to look into is there a hedge running alongside it? That can sometimes help with determining who. Owns the hedge.
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  James Dixon September 25, 2012 at 6:25pm

  Way back, when I used to work for Croydon Council, I was called out to investigate why a wood had suddenly started dying off. A total of 40 or trees looked in serious decline which was strange because most were no more than 50 years old.  After wandering round for half a hour scratching our heads I decided to look for clues in the gardens over the fence.  One had dammed a ditch to make a nice little pond.

  So the wrath of the Council decended on the hapless household.
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  Phil Stovell September 26, 2012 at 10:23am

  Thankfully not an issue here. I am concerned about the water in general though, so I think the idea of laying pipework to keep the flow of water is a good one.
  
  James Dixon said:

  Way back, when I used to work for Croydon Council, I was called out to investigate why a wood had suddenly started dying off. A total of 40 or trees looked in serious decline which was strange because most were no more than 50 years old.  After wandering round for half a hour scratching our heads I decided to look for clues in the gardens over the fence.  One had dammed a ditch to make a nice little pond.

  So the wrath of the Council decended on the hapless household.