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Summary

The remains of a water-meadow of probable post-medieval date is visible on aerial photographs between 1945 and 1992 as a series of earthwork ditches, some of which may survive.

Location

Protected Status: none recorded

Other References/Statuses: none recorded

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• WATER MEADOW (Post Medieval to XIX - 1540 AD to 1900 AD (Between))

Full description

Royal Air Force, 1945, RAF/106G/UK/967, RAF/106G/UK/967 RS 3149-3150 01-NOV-1945 (Aerial Photograph). SDV351060.

Water meadow gutters are visible as earthwork ditches.

Geonex UK, 1992, 158/92, DCC Geonex/158/92 084-085 15-OCT-1992 (Aerial Photograph). SDV349989.

The gutters are just visible as earthworks.

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

A post medieval water meadow, known locally as a catchwater meadow system, is visible on aerial photographs between 1945 and 2012 as a series of earthwork ditches to the south of Scobbiscombe Cottage, with which it may have been associated.
Catch meadows provided a simple, inexpensive but effective form of irrigation, designed to irrigate pasture by diverting water from a spring or stream along the slope via a series of roughly parallel channels or gutters. A larger gutter, often called a headmain, tapped water from a source such as a river, spring or spring-fed stream. When irrigation was required the headmain was dammed, causing water to overflow downslope, where the roughly parallel gutters distributed the flowing water 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 catchwater meadow systems are believed to date to the post medieval period, although it is possible that they were first developed in the medieval period.
The Scobbiscombe catch meadow covers a visible area of approximately 3.5 hectares of east- and west facing slope below the cottage. The sources of water seem to be a pond north of the cottage supplemented by the watercourse to the south. It is possible that the system partly operated as an ‘integrated’ catch meadow, in which manure from the barn (MDV61162) was mixed with the water supply to supply liquid manure to the pasture, possibly from the pond (MDV61163).
Many of the gutters remain visible as earthworks on aerial photographs taken in 1992 and slight earthworks mays urvive.

Sources / Further Reading

SDV349989	Aerial Photograph: Geonex UK. 1992. 158/92. Geonex Aerial Photograph. Photograph (Paper). DCC Geonex/158/92 084-085 15-OCT-1992.
SDV351060	Aerial Photograph: Royal Air Force. 1945. RAF/106G/UK/967. Royal Air Force Aerial Photograph. Photograph (Paper). RAF/106G/UK/967 RS 3149-3150 01-NOV-1945. [Mapped feature: #63609 ]
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

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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