Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition/Axholm

AXHOLM, or AXELHOLM, an island in the N.W. part of Lincolnshire, England, formed by the rivers Trent, Idle, and Don. It consists mainly of a plateau of slight elevation, aud comprises the parishes of Althorpa, Belton, Epworth, Haxey, Luddington, Owston, and Crowle ; the total area being about 47,000 acres. At a very early period it would appear to have been covered with forest ; but this having been in great measure destroyed, it sank into a comparative swamp. In 1627 King Charles I., who was lord of the island, entered into a contract with Cornelius Vermuyden, a Dutchman, for reclaiming the meres and marshes, and rendering them fit for tillage. This undertaking led to the introduction of a large number of Flemish workmen, who settled in the district, and, in spite of the violent measures adopted by the English peasantry to expel them, retained their ground in sufficient numbers to affect the physical appearance and the accent of the inhabitants to this day. Elaborate volumes have been published on the island by Peck (1815), Stonehouse, and Read. (See paper, by E. Peacock, in Anthropological Review, 1870.)