Whatever the date when the channel was realigned, an 1801 map shows Long Meadow as part of a much larger meadow, called “Little Meadow”. This distinguished it from Great Meadow through which Beck Brook flows from Girton to Oakington.

The 1801 pre-enclosure field boundaries (drawn from a map available from “British History Online” - show both meadows aligned along the watercourses. The land is flat here and presumably would be suitable for crop growing were it not, perhaps, for regular flooding. This might indicate the watercourses were deepened after this date and at the time were used for grazing.

R G Baker’s 1821 Map of Cambridgeshire shows Beck Brook joining Histon’s Brook in Long Meadow. Whilst at the end of the 2022 there was an indication in the greening vegetation of a possible old watercourse crossing Long Meadow from Park Lane it is quite possible that Baker’s map was not accurate. (An 1808 map “Cambridge 23” suggests the watercourses at that time followed similar lines to those today.)

The Brook’s water level is normally well below ground level – and this occurs for miles downstream. This suggests that the deepening of the Brook might have been part of a major programme addressing regional agricultural drainage as occurred in the 18th and 19th Centuries. If so, there may have been a relatively recent change in the flora to that seen today.

It is believed the grassland of Long Meadow has never been ploughed, though this idea has been challenged. Certainly in 1999 it was grassland.

It is understood that pesticides were not used here in the past, but there is evidence of nutrient enrichment indicating fertilisers were used. A consequence is that floral diversity may have been lost – though to an extent this is recoverable.

Interestingly a BCN Wildlife Trust specialist has opined that Long Meadow is floristically better than today’s average English meadow, but is not as good floristically as the average meadow 50 years’ ago.

Ordnance Survey of England One Inch to One Mile Sheet 188 (surveyed 1880 to 1886, published 1898). Reproduced with permission of the National Library of Scotland.

A distinctive feature of the meadow is the row of Horse Chestnuts along its southern edge.

These are evident in the 1886 map, which shows the individual trees. The trees continue to Meadow Farm which was part of the Abbey Farm estate (and where now a simple barn is located)

These trees were clearly planted to impress, in around the 1840s, perhaps in line with contemporary fashion to show off through some very visible landscape feature.

In the past few years some of these trees have died but are being replaced with trees similarly impressive – showing our generations also care about our landscape!