The water meadows, New Mill Lane, Mansfield - one of the senior gamekeepers lived in the former farmhouse.

It is rather late in the day but it is finally being recognised that that we should not allow the famous Flood Dyke system to be completely obliterated. The 8 mile long system of water meadows was of European importance because it represent an early and very successful integrated farming system. By irrigating, good pasture for sheep and cattle was provided on the very poor, fast draining sand-lands. The livestock provided manure to enrich the surrounding arable fields. The system was constructed between 1819 to 1837 and involved the moving of vast quantities of soil, not only to construct the dykes but also to shape the fields so that the water spread evenly over the sections of grass ackked panes. The system was seriously damaged by mining subsidence in the middle years of the 20th century. Most was closed during the 1960s but the section through the village survived untilthe late 1970s.

Since then most of the system has been filled in and obliterated from the surface. However much of the puddle clay watercourse still exists underground. On the middle section from Cavendish Lodge (now Sherwood Forest Holiday Park) to the Dog & Duck a surprising amount remains, including, in what is now Sherwood Forest Holiday Park, the rack and pinions for the sluice gate and the race where the water was drawn off from the River Maun. In the village many of the original culverts, very significant parts of the Dyke, the duck pond, and a sluice have all survived. The Dog & Duck water meadow is also one of the few surviving fragments of the original meadows.  The opportunity exists to restore parts of this central section of the system.

Water meadows are not only historically and archaeologically significant they also introduce important biodiversity, especially in a dry area such as Sherwood Forest. Restoration of biodiversity is increasingly seen as a very important reason for protecting and restoring water meadows.

For over 400 years water meadows, once a common feature of river valleys in southern England, were important intensive agricultural systems. A sustainable form of agriculture, they integrate soil and water management to irrigate grass and trigger growth. The objective was to provide an even flow of water across the field, which would warm the grass sward, protect it from frost and flush the roots with oxygen and nutrients.

The Food Dykes were a ‘catchwork irrigation system’, these were employed from the early seventeenth century on valley sides where streams and spring water could be diverted into ‘flood dykes’ running along the contours. Most such systems were in river valleys in the southwest of England and were small. On the largest branch of the Flood Dyke the dyke ended up over 58 feet above the river.

The Clipstone Park system was important because of its unusually large size (7.5 miles in length and 300acres), northern latitude and the fact that it was part of an integrated farming system. This used not only dung from the large numbers of sheep and cattle that could be kept because of the abundant pasture, but also sewage from Mansfield, to improve the fertility of the very poor sand-lands so typical of this part of Sherwood Forest. Kings Mill Reservoir (70acres) was built to provide water in the summer, as well as powering the mills in Mansfield. The system was made possible because Mansfield was built on limestone which neutralised the natural acidity of the rainwater. The springs on the sand-lands of Sherwood were acid.

Water from the Maun was diverted into the Flood Dyke by a weir on bath lane, another at Cavendish Lodge and a further one at Edwinstowe. Valves could then be opened to allow water to flow into distribution channels along the top of each field. This feed water to the 'carrier' channels running down the slope. The slopes had been extensively reshaped to create 'panes' which sloped uniformly to allow the ater to spread venely and importantly to keep moving. To flood each pane it was a simple matter of inserting a wooden board into the carrier to divert water to the pane. Water drained out the bottom of the pane back into the carrier were it was then diverted into the next pane, until it finally drained into the Maun. By trail and error it was found that a slope of 1 in 9 was best, less than this and the water tended to stagnate over the roots killing the grass, more and the water flowed too fast. 

The Construction 

The 4th Duke of Portland who was a leading farmer, personally supervised a large proportion of his vast estate. The 1,487acre farm was only bringing in £346 per year. The Duke wanting to introduce the successful corn-sheep system of farming wished to increase the number of sheep on the estate but a shortage of winter feed proved a problem. The solution was water meadows. After smaller trials at Clumber, Thoresby and Welbeck, he began the conversion of the wastelands at Clipstone into the famous Flood-Dyke system. An account of ‘The water-meadows at Clipstone’ is to be found in the first journal of the Royal Agricultural Society.

Hundreds of unemployed soldiers together with navvies were put to work shortly after the Napoleonic Wars under Mr Tebbett. The irrigated meadows extended from Carr Bank Wood in Mansfield to the boundary between Edwinstowe and Ollerton. Built between 1819 and 1837 the total cost was just under £40,000. It was estimated that the Duke made £3600 a year from the scheme, close to a 10% return. The venture wasn’t without its problems. The boggy mires, some 9 feet deep, proved very expensive to drain and it was necessary to install land drains as much as 12 feet deep in order to intercept the many springs and provide adequate drainage. Many small hillocks also had to be levelled by digging out the subsoil.

The original sluice gate at Cavendish Lodge (now the holiday park), the wooden gate is long gone but the original gear wheels remain. The sluice would have been lower to send water into the Flood Dyke.

The dyke then flowed along the bottom of the bank shown below - notice how the field surface has been smoothed and levelled to spread the water out.

The Dyke still exists along the side of Gorsethorpe Lane as the photo below shows. The brambles are hiding most of the dyke. The dyke passes over the River Maun to the Duck pool and a spur that ran off down the valley.

The stone culverts still exist at each end of this section of the flood Dyke.

The duck pond covers quite an area. It is partially silted up but the orginal puddled clay lining will still be in place, it just needs clearing out and a water supply. A branch of the dyke runs off the back of the duck pond down the valley.

The sluice gate still exists at the Kennels were there was a branch joining to Vicar water.

The link below returns you to the Dog and Duck Meadow of the Proposals Section

The Dog and Duck Meadow