Chapter 9 Summary

"The Rise of the Atkinsons"

This chapter is the longest in "Waterland," spanning 38 pages. It traces the history of the local prominent family, the Atkinsons, who are Tom Cricks mothers family. Crick takes his audience back 300 years into the history of the local seat, Gildsey (an invented name, like the River Leem0, weaving actual historical events such as the French Revolution, the Napoleonic Wars, advances in marine engineering, land drainage and brewing techniques, with the history and the advancement of the Atkinson family.

Crick describes how the early Atkinsons were able to develop their ability to grow and to malt barley for their beer from the lush peat of the Fens, by draining over 12,000 acres of Fen lands for this purpose. There are the colorful public houses, such as the Jolly Bargeman and the Pike and Eel. Crick describes (as elsewhere), the patron...