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Summary

A possible catch meadow of probable nineteenth or early twentieth century date is visible on aerial photographs of the 1940s as roughly parallel narrow earthwork ditches on the slopes overlooking the River Weaver to the south-west of Garlandhayes 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/1823 RS, RAF/CPE/UK/1823 RS 4242-4243 04-NOV-1946 (Aerial Photograph). SDV356902.

Four or five parallel earthwork ditches are visible.

Ordnance Survey, 1967, OS/67040, OS/67040 V 60-61 18-APR-1967 (Aerial Photograph). SDV356895.

The earthwork ditches of the catch meadow gutters remain visible.

Hegarty, C. + Knight, S. + Sims, R., 2014-2015, East and Mid Devon River Catchments National Mapping Programme Project (Interpretation). SDV356883.

A possible catch meadow of probable nineteenth or early twentieth century date is visible on aerial photographs of the 1940s as roughly parallel narrow earthwork ditches on the slopes overlooking the River Weaver to the south-west of Garlandhayes Farm.
Many 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 often 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.
In this instance the system was probably supplied by a spring fed stream that rises to the south of Hele Bird Farm, nearly 300 metres to the south. The gutters remain identifiable on aerial photographs of the 1960s but cannot be identified on more recent aerial photographs and have probably been 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.
	Linked documents:1
SDV356895	Aerial Photograph: Ordnance Survey. 1967. OS/67040. Ordnance Survey. Photograph (Paper). OS/67040 V 60-61 18-APR-1967.
SDV356902	Aerial Photograph: Royal Air Force. 1946. RAF/CPE/UK/1823 RS. Royal Air Force Aerial Photograph. Photograph (Paper). RAF/CPE/UK/1823 RS 4242-4243 04-NOV-1946. [Mapped feature: #67154 ]

Associated Monuments: none recorded

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV6530 - The East and Mid-Devon Rivers Catchment NMP project (Ref: ACD613)

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