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Summary

A possible water meadow of probable 19th to 20th century date is visible on aerial photographs of the 1940s onward as earthwork ditches on the east-facing slopes to the north of The Barn, formerly Worth Barn, at Chambercombe, Ilfracombe. Known locally as catchwork, catch-meadow or field-gutter systems, such water meadows are typically found on combe or hill slopes and are normally supplied with water by tapping warm springs or streams.

Location

Protected Status: none recorded

Other References/Statuses: none recorded

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• CATCH MEADOW (Post Medieval to XX - 1540 AD to 1904 AD)
• WATER MEADOW (Post Medieval to XX - 1540 AD to 1904 AD)

Full description

Ordnance Survey, 1880-1899, First Edition Ordnance 25 inch map (Cartographic). SDV336179.

Two gutters are depicted.

Ordnance Survey, 1904 - 1906, Second Edition Ordnance Survey 25 inch Map (Cartographic). SDV325644.

The water meadow gutters are not depicted.

Royal Air Force, 1946, RAF/106G/UK/1655, NMR RAF/106G/UK/1655 3167-3168 11-JUL-1946 (Aerial Photograph). SDV349996.

Earthwork ditches are visible north of The Barn, formerly Worth Barn, at Chambercombe. Map object partly based on this source.

Environment Agency, 2007, LiDAR data JPEG image (1 metre resolution), LIDAR SS5247 Environment Agency D0079125 01-APR-2007 (Cartographic). SDV350317.

The earthwork ditches remain visible. Map object partly based on this source.

Hegarty, C. + Knight, S., 2011 - 2012, North Devon Coast Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty National Mapping Programme Project (Interpretation). SDV349018.

A possible water meadow of probable 19th to 20th century date is visible on aerial photographs of the 1940s onward as earthwork ditches centred on circa SS52684725 on the east-facing slopes to the north of The Barn, formerly Worth Barn, at Chambercombe, Ilfracombe.
Known locally as catchwork, catch-meadow or field-gutter systems, such water meadows are typically found on combe or hill slopes. They irrigate the pasture slopes with water diverted from warm springs or streams by passing it along a the top of the slope in a water channel or ‘headmain’ and, when irrigation was required, causing the channel to overflow, the water passing evenly own the slope via a series of lower roughly parallel water channels or ‘gutters’.
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 March and April.
The gutters are depicted on the Ordnance Survey First Edition 25 inch map and therefore probably predate circa 1890. The system probably tapped a spring-fed stream which rises immediately to the south. A small structure depicted on the maps from the First Edition onwards at the southern, higher end of the system, might be an agricultural building, possibly a field barn or Linhay which was used to add manure to the water to create a liquid fertiliser which was then distributed across the slopes. The gutters are not depicted on the Ordnance Survey Second Edition 25 inch map and therefore might have passed out of use by 1906. The gutters remain visible as slight earthworks on digital images derived from Lidar data acquired in 2007.

Sources / Further Reading

SDV325644	Cartographic: Ordnance Survey. 1904 - 1906. Second Edition Ordnance Survey 25 inch Map. Second Edition Ordnance Survey 25 inch Map. Map (Digital).
SDV336179	Cartographic: Ordnance Survey. 1880-1899. First Edition Ordnance 25 inch map. First Edition Ordnance Survey 25 inch Map. Map (Digital).
SDV349018	Interpretation: Hegarty, C. + Knight, S.. 2011 - 2012. North Devon Coast Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty National Mapping Programme Project. AC Archaeology Report. ACD383/2/1. Digital.
	Linked documents:1
SDV349996	Aerial Photograph: Royal Air Force. 1946. RAF/106G/UK/1655. Royal Air Force Aerial Photograph. Photograph (Paper). NMR RAF/106G/UK/1655 3167-3168 11-JUL-1946.
SDV350317	Cartographic: Environment Agency. 2007. LiDAR data JPEG image (1 metre resolution). Environment Agency LiDAR data. Digital. LIDAR SS5247 Environment Agency D0079125 01-APR-2007.

Associated Monuments: none recorded

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV6132 - North Devon Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty NMP Project

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