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HER Number: | MDV107539 |
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Name: | Catch Meadow at Borough Farm |
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Summary
A catch meadow of probable 19th century date is visible as a series of earthwork ditches on aerial photographs of 1947 at Borough Farm, with which it was probably associated.
Location
Grid Reference: | SS 970 094 |
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Map Sheet: | SS90NE |
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Admin Area | Devon |
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Civil Parish | Halberton |
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District | Mid Devon |
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Ecclesiastical Parish | HALBERTON |
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Protected Status: none recorded
Other References/Statuses: none recorded
Monument Type(s) and Dates
- CATCH MEADOW (Post Medieval to Modern - 1540 AD to 2013 AD (Between))
Full description
Royal Air Force, 1947, RAF/CPE/UK/1974 FS, RAF/CPE/UK/1974 FS 2283 11-APR-1947 (Aerial Photograph). SDV356987.
The catch meadow is visible as a series of earthwork ditches.
Ordnance Survey, 1967, OS/67220, OS/67220 V 200-01 15-JUN-1967 (Aerial Photograph). SDV356988.
The catch meadow gutters appear to have been completely levelled.
Hegarty, C. + Knight, S. + Sims, R., 2014-2015, East and Mid Devon River Catchments National Mapping Programme Project (Interpretation). SDV356883.
A catch meadow of probable 19th century date is visible as a series of earthwork ditches on aerial photographs of 1947 at Borough Farm, with which it was probably associated. 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. 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 March and April. The catch meadow covers an area of approximately 0.46 hectares of southeast facing slope approximately 80m to the east of Borough Farm. The system comprises a series of parallel gutters which measure less than 2m in width and appear to tap a spring-fed stream that rises at the farm. This water meadow might have operated as what has been called an ‘integrated’ catch meadow, in which manure from the cow sheds within the farmyard was mixed with the water supply to supply liquid manure to the pasture. The catch meadow was not visible on aerial photographs of 1967 and may have been completely levelled.
Sources / Further Reading
SDV356883 | Interpretation: Hegarty, C. + Knight, S. + Sims, R.. 2014-2015. East and Mid Devon River Catchments National Mapping Programme Project. AC Archaeology Report. Digital. |
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| Linked documents:1 |
SDV356987 | Aerial Photograph: Royal Air Force. 1947. RAF/CPE/UK/1974 FS. Royal Air Force Aerial Photograph. Photograph (Paper). RAF/CPE/UK/1974 FS 2283 11-APR-1947. [Mapped feature: #66972 ] |
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SDV356988 | Aerial Photograph: Ordnance Survey. 1967. OS/67220. Ordnance Survey. Photograph (Paper). OS/67220 V 200-01 15-JUN-1967. |
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Associated Monuments: none recorded
Associated Finds: none recorded
Associated Events
- EDV6530 - The East and Mid-Devon Rivers Catchment NMP project (Ref: ACD613)
Date Last Edited: | Aug 14 2014 1:03PM |
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