Clipstone Water Meadows were constructed by the 4th Duke of Portland between 1819 and 1839 at a cost of about £38,000. The system stretched for over 8 miles from the outskirts of Mansfield to Edwinstowe. Over 300 acres of pasture were created on what was very dry or very boggy land. Because of this, the Duke to keep large numbers of sheep. These sheep produced manure which fertilised the land. This changed the heathland and forest to arable land. The flood dyke system was at the time the largest catch water system of its type in europe. A canal, called the flood dyke was created along the valley following the contour line. Sluices then allowed the carriers to be filled with water. A shuttle board was placed across the central carrier to trap the water and fill the lateral carriers. The water flowed slowly over the grass to be collected in the next carrier down and returned to the central carrier. 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 until the 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.
Teams of watermen or meadsmen controlled the flooding, depending on the season, what was needed for each area, and the amount of water available from the river that fed the water channels. The watermen would check the fields every day to make sure that the water kept flowing and did nt stagnate on the fields. They would choose when to open and close the various sluice gates to allow water to run across the meadows. The proper running of the water meadows was dependent on the skill and experiance of the watermen.
