CHAPTER V 



COLLEGE WATERMEADS 



THE River Itchen, immediately below Winchester, 

 flows in three separate channels. There is the 

 main river known as the Old Barge ; which occupies the 

 central position, and there are two side streams, both 

 of them due to human agency, which may be called 

 respectively the Canal and St jEthelwold's stream. 

 The latter was diverted by Bishop ^Ethelwold in the 

 tenth century so as to run through the precincts of 

 St Swithin's Priory. It still flows from the site of the 

 ancient " Nunna-minster " Mill through the Cathedral 

 Close, and from thence runs underneath the bridge in 

 College Street, past the Warden's Lodgings, beneath the 

 old College water-mill, until at length it rejoins the main 

 river in the meadows below. The Canal, too, is of very 

 early origin. In a Saxon charter of the eleventh 

 century mention is made of the " new river," but the 

 present channel seems almost certainly to be the work 

 of Bishop de Lucy, who received a charter from King 

 John to levy toll on all goods entering the city " through 

 the trench or canal which he had caused to be made." 

 The sweet, luscious water-meadows which lie be- 

 tween Canal on the east and St ^Ethelwold's stream on 

 the west, and through which the Old Barge flows, are 

 known as " Watermeads," and are full of interest and 

 delight at all seasons of the year. The river abounds in 



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