Water meadow

A water-meadow (or watermeadow) is an area of grassland subject to controlled irrigation to increase agricultural productivity. Water-meadows were common in Italy, Switzerland, and England (from 1523) but working water-meadows have now largely disappeared. They should not be confused with flood-meadows, which are naturally covered in shallow water by seasonal flooding from a river.

Water-meadow is sometimes used loosely to mean any grassland beside a river.

Types of water-meadow

Two main types of water-meadow were used.

Catchwork water-meadow

These were used for fields on slopes, and relatively little engineering skill was required to construct them. Water from a stream or spring was fed to the top of a sloping field, and gentle sloping terraces were formed along which the water could trickle in a zig-zag fashion down the field. The water could be used again for fields lower down the slope.

Floated water-meadow

Floated or bedwork water-meadows were used for almost-level fields along broad river valleys, and required very careful construction to ensure correct operation.

A leat (often called a carrier, top carrier or main) was used to divert water from the river and keep it at a higher level along the edge of the valley. This water was then used to supply many smaller carriers on the crests of ridges built across the fields. Each small carrier would overflow slowly down the sides (the panes) of its ridge, the channel eventually tapering to an end at the tip of the ridge. The seeping water would then be collected in drains (or drawns), these joining to form a bottom carrier or tail drain which returned the water to the river. The small carriers and drains made an interlocking grid (like interlocked fingers), but did not connect directly. A by-carrier took any water not needed for irrigation straight back to the river.

A system of sluice gates or hatches and stops (earth dams) was used to control the water flow, which could be provided separately for each section of water-meadow. Sometimes aqueducts took carriers over drains, and causeways provided access for wagons when the ground was wet. The working and maintenance of the water-meadow was done by a highly skilled craftsman called a drowner or waterman, who was often employed by several adjacent farmers.

Uses of water-meadows

The aim of water-meadow irrigation was not to flood the ground, but to keep it continuously damp – there is no standing water in a working water-meadow. Irrigation was used in early spring, to keep frosts off the ground and allow the grass to grow several weeks earlier, and in dry summer weather to keep the grass growing. It also allowed the ground to absorb any plant nutrients or silt carried by the river water. The grass was used both for grazing by cattle and sheep, and for making hay.

Derelict water-meadows

Former water-meadows are found along many river valleys, where the sluice gates, channels and field ridges may still be visible (but the ridges should not be confused with ridge and furrow topography, which is found on drier ground and has a very different origin). The drains in a derelict water-meadow are generally clogged and wet, and most of the carrier channels are dry, with the smaller ones often invisible. The complex mixture of wet and drier ground often gives derelict water-meadows high wetland biodiversity.

See also

• Terrace (agriculture)
• Paddy field
• Coastal plain
• Coastal prairie
• Field
• Flooded grasslands and savannas
• Flood-meadow
• Grassland
• Meadow
• Pasture
• Plain
• Prairie
• Rangeland
• Savanna
• Steppe
• Wet meadow
• Veld

External links

• 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica: Irrigation Includes detailed description of bedwork and catchwork water-meadows.
• Upper Test Valley Description of the upper River Test valley in southern England, including description of catchwork water-meadows.
• Harnham Water Meadows Includes animation of water flow.
• Water Meadows: The lush pastures of the river valleys Description, terminology and diagrams of floated water-meadows.
• PhD thesis abstract on watermeadows

Further reading

Hadrian Cook and Tom Williamson (eds.), Water management in the English landscape: field, marsh and meadow. Edinburgh : Edinburgh University Press, 1999.

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