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Summary

An extensive catch meadow of possible nineteenth or twentieth century date is visible on aerial photographs of the 1940s and 1950s as parallel earthwork ditches on both sides of a shallow combe east of Higher Holcombe Farm. Catch meadows 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 from gutter to gutter, thereby irrigating the slopes below.

Location

Protected Status: none recorded

Other References/Statuses: none recorded

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• CATCH MEADOW (XIX to XX - 1801 AD? to 1946 AD (Between))

Full description

Royal Air Force, 1946, RAF/CPE/UK/1824, RAF/CPE/UK/1824 3079-3080 4-NOV-1946 (Aerial Photograph). SDV352344.

Extensive catch meadow gutters are visible as linear earthwork ditches.

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

A catch meadow of possible nineteenth or twentieth century date is visible on aerial photographs of the 1940s and 1950s as parallel earthwork ditches on both sides of a shallow combe east of Higher Holcombe Farm.
The catch meadow is extensive, covering an area of almost six hectares. It is unclear from the aerial photographs alone whether the water meadow was associated solely with Higher Holcombe or the elements east of Oakhill Cross Road were attached to Middle Holcombe or the smaller settlements depicted on the tithe map.
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 and many continued in use into the twentieth century. 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, particularly important during the hungry gap of the March and April.
The water meadow is not visible as a coherent system of earthworks on later images available to the survey and might have been largely levelled, although individual isolated gutters might survive as subtle earthworks.

Sources / Further Reading

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
SDV352344	Aerial Photograph: Royal Air Force. 1946. RAF/CPE/UK/1824. Royal Air Force Aerial Photograph. Photograph (Paper). RAF/CPE/UK/1824 3079-3080 4-NOV-1946.

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)
• EDV4376 - Devon County Farms Historic Environment Audit, 2007

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