A second seasonal drowning will take place on Saturday 8 February at 10 am, following what has been described as a 'possibly record-breaking attendance' on Saturday 25 January.
There will be a brief talk about the Harnham Water Meadows and their history, followed by a guided walk to the demonstration area.
Hadrian Cook (centre) with other members of the Harnham Water Meadows Trust dressed as 'Drowners', 25 January 2025.
Drowners wore a bowler hat as a sign of status - the role of a drowner was considered to be more important than that of agricultural labourers.
The Local History section of this website includes an article 'A lost road to a lost Abode' in which Kerry O'Connor describes the role of the drowner.
There are medieval water meadows even closer to Stratford sub Castle. Jim Platt wrote a series of articles about them for The Friends of St Lawrence Newsletters in 2011 and 2012. Those articles were later merged and made available to the village website and can be read here: https://www.stratfordsubcastle.org.uk/stratford-s-water-meadows