 The meadows were made famous in John Constable's painting "Salisbury Cathedral – A View from the Water Meadow".The meadows are managed by the Harnham Water Meadows Trust, and owned by the Trust jointly with the Dean and Chapter of Salisbury Cathedral.In the 13th century, Salisbury sited its new Cathedral on the flat fertile plain encircled by the Avon and protected by Harnham Hill, a chalk escarpment which rises steeply to the south.