HAVE you ever noticed drowners huts along the River Frome near Dorchester?

These huts were once a key part of the water meadow system and this one was photographed near West Stafford.

The huts were a form of shelter used by drowners employed by farmers as early as the 1700s.

These were professional men with a responsibility for drowning the water meadows for set periods of time and at certain seasons of the year.

Water meadows such as those along the Frome were areas of grassland along a river irrigated to produce a rich hay crop and lush grazing early in the year for cattle.

The irrigation was carried out by digging precisely engineered channels so that a thin sheet of water flowed through the grass.

This practice known as 'drowning' deposited silt making the meadows more fertile early in the year. It also reduced the effects of frost in the winter and raised the soil temperature providing early grass for the cattle.

Although drowners were still employed on one farm near Dorchester as late as the 1940s, water meadows fell out of use from the late 19th century onwards due to the agricultural recession and the imports of cheap grain.