DEMG - Dr Kathy Stearne Water Meadows – the Myth and magic of the Drowner

 Growing up in the Yorkshire Dales Kathy has a love for the countryside and history. She has worked in agriculture and conservation since 1980. Kathy gained a Doctorate in Agricultural History and Ecological Management, from Imperial College London, in 2004. She presently runs a consultancy for land owners and farmers, advising on conservation (in the widest sense of the word), ecology, and hydrology. She has many years’ experience as a successful lecturer and mentor.

The origins of water meadows are lost in medieval times. Surface water irrigation expanded in Wessex and throughout England from the sixteenth century and was a sustainable intensive integrated agricultural system until the twentieth century. This talk looks at the origins of water meadows in England, their management and importance to agriculture through the centuries, and why they are still important in terms of landscape history and ecology today.