Runnels in Cordoba, Sevilla, and Madrid

Coincidentally I saw the runnels, or channels designed for irrigation in the garden (read here), at La Mezquita de Cordoba, Spain pictured in Rain Gardens: Managing Water Sustainably in the Garden and Designed Landscape by Nigel Dunnett and Andy Clayden. I travelled in Spain before reading the book which I borrowed from the Berkeley Public Library. Although I did not photograph runnels in Cordoba, I did photograph runnels in Patio de los Naranjos (courtyard of the orange trees) in Sevilla , pictured above and below, and in Parque del Buen Retiro in Madrid. Dunnett and Clayden use the term gully instead of runnel. They write,

In the Moorosh garden of the Mezquita, Cordoba (Spain), water is channelled through a series of gullies to each orange tree set within the cobbled patio. Water was a valuable and scarce resource that needed to be used widely. The flow of water can be regulated by inserting timber boards into slot sets within the rills.

Parque del Buen Retiro