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Summary

A water-meadow of probable 19th century date is visible on aerial photographs of the 1950s onwards as a series of earthwork ditches on west facing slopes of a combe to the north of Brusheshill Wood. Such water-meadows, known as catchwork, catch meadow or field-gutter systems, are usually found on combe or hill slopes and are designed to irrigate pasture by diverting water from a spring or stream and passing it along the slope via a series of roughly parallel channels or gutters. When irrigation was required the gutters were blocked, causing water to overflow, thereby irrigating the slopes below. This film of water prevented the ground freezing during the winter and raised the temperature of the grass in the spring, thereby encouraging early growth, particularly important during the hungry gap of the March and April.

Location

Protected Status: none recorded

Other References/Statuses: none recorded

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• CATCH MEADOW (Early Medieval to Post Medieval - 1066 AD to 1750 AD (Between))

Full description

Royal Air Force, 1955, RAF/540/1625, RAF/540/1625 F21 0006-0007 24-MAY-1955 (Aerial Photograph). SDV351141.

Catch meadow gutters are visible as earthwork ditches. It was not possible to rectify this image and the transcription was sketched from less clear evidence visible on later images.

Next Perspectives, 2007, Pan Government Agreement Aerial Photographs, Next Perspectives PGA Imagery SX5550 03-MAY-2007 (Aerial Photograph). SDV350196.

The gutters remain visible as slight earthworks.

Hegarty, C. + Knight, S. + Sims, R., 2013-2014, South Devon Coast Rapid Coastal Zone Assessment Survey National Mapping Programme Project (Interpretation). SDV351146.

A water-meadow of probable 19th century date is visible on aerial photographs of 1955 onwards as a series of earthwork ditches on the west facing slopes to the north of Brusheshill Wood, overlooking Broad Ooze on the River Yealm.
Catch meadows provided a simple, inexpensive and effective form of irrigation. When irrigation was required water was diverted from a source such as a pond, river, spring or spring-fed stream and passed along the meadow slopes via one or more of the gutters, which was then caused to overflow. The lower, roughly parallel gutters then ‘caught’ and redistributed water passing it evenly over the surface of a meadow below. The gently flowing water prevented the ground freezing in winter and encouraged early growth in spring, thereby providing extra feed for livestock. Most catch meadow systems are believed to date to the post medieval period, although it is likely that they were first developed in the medieval period.
It is unclear with which farm or holding this system was associated. Not being directly linked to a farmstead it probably operated as a ‘detached’ system.
Slight gutter earthworks remain visible on digital images derived from aerial photographs taken in May 2007.

Sources / Further Reading

SDV350196	Aerial Photograph: Next Perspectives. 2007. Pan Government Agreement Aerial Photographs. Pan Government Agreement Aerial Photographs. Digital. Next Perspectives PGA Imagery SX5550 03-MAY-2007. [Mapped feature: #63338 ]
SDV351141	Aerial Photograph: Royal Air Force. 1955. RAF/540/1625. Royal Air Force Aerial Photograph. Photograph (Paper). RAF/540/1625 F21 0006-0007 24-MAY-1955.
SDV351146	Interpretation: Hegarty, C. + Knight, S. + Sims, R.. 2013-2014. South Devon Coast Rapid Coastal Zone Assessment Survey National Mapping Programme Project. AC Archaeology Report. Digital.
	Linked documents:1

Associated Monuments: none recorded

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV6127 - Rapid Coastal Zone Assessment Survey National Mapping Programme (NMP) for South-West England - South Coast Devon (Ref: ACD618)

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