213 
CHAPTER XIII. 
EMBANKMENTS, 
These, as connected with agriculture, are, at pre¬ 
sent, rather unimportant in this county. Some slight at¬ 
tempts have been partially made in the lower parts of 
the county near Upton, to keep off the minor floods of 
the Severn ; but these not being upon a general system 
have no great effect; and, indeed, I suppose it diffi¬ 
cult, and perhaps not possible, to keep off such a wa¬ 
ter as the Severn, which, at times, after heavy rains, or 
the melting of deep snows upon the mountains of 
Wales, spreads over the vale, from half a mile to a mile 
in breadth, and to a considerable depth, as sketched, 
Plate IV. Fig. 2. 
These embankments are nothing more than earth 
covered with turf, without any particular puddle in the 
construction, being only I'eached upon an overflow of 
the river. Mr. Marshall, in his Minutes on the Vale of 
Severn, says, ‘‘ This is not a public work, nor is it ge¬ 
neral, the meadows being, in many places, still left 
open, the intention of it is merely to secure the grass 
from being sitted, and the hay from being stvept away 
by summer floods; the banks being low, not more, 
3 p perhaps, 
I 
