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Summary

A possible simple water meadow of probable 19th to 20th century date is visible on aerial photographs of the 1940s onward as earthwork ditches to the north and west Bowden Farm. 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 (XVIII to XX - 1800 AD to 1947 AD)
• WATER MEADOW (XVIII to XX - 1800 AD to 1947 AD)

Full description

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

The eastern higher gutter is partially depicted.

Royal Air Force, 19/05/1947, RAF/CPE/UK/2082, NMR RAF/CPE/UK/2082 4068-4069 19-MAY-1947 (Aerial Photograph). SDV350392.

The gutters are partially visible as earthworks to the west of the system, much of the combe being obscured by deep shadow.

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

Two possible water meadow gutters are depicted.

Next Perspectives, 2007, Pan Government Agreement Aerial Photographs, Next Perspectives PGA Tile Ref SS5145 22-MAY-2001 (Aerial Photograph). SDV350196.

The gutters remain partially visible.

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 to the north and west Bowden Farm.
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 visible gutter, which could be described as a ‘head main’, is incompletely depicted on the Ordnance Survey First Edition 25 inch map, and almost fully depicted on the Ordnance Survey Second Edition 25 inch map. A second possible gutter is depicted to the south on the Second Edition but cannot be identified on the available aerial photographs due to its course alongside extant hedgebanks. It remains depicted as a water channel on the current Ordnance Survey digital base map. The system therefore probably predates circa 1890 and the map evidence could be interpreted as suggesting the catch meadow developed fully post 1890. However, catch meadows often evolved over time and many were recut and replanned over many years, so the historic map evidence might reflect only a relatively recent incarnation and this system may in fact have much older origins. The possible head main remains partially visible on digital images derived from aerial photographs taken in May 2007, but appears to have been truncated at its south-eastern end by the creation of a new pond, replacing the original pond, probably the system watersource, which was sited further to the south-east.

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
SDV350196	Aerial Photograph: Next Perspectives. 2007. Pan Government Agreement Aerial Photographs. Pan Government Agreement Aerial Photographs. Digital. Next Perspectives PGA Tile Ref SS5145 22-MAY-2001.
SDV350392	Aerial Photograph: Royal Air Force. 19/05/1947. RAF/CPE/UK/2082. Royal Air Force Aerial Photograph. Photograph (Paper). NMR RAF/CPE/UK/2082 4068-4069 19-MAY-1947. [Mapped feature: #62609 ]

Associated Monuments: none recorded

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

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

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