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Summary

A possible catch meadow of probable 19th century date is visible as a series of earthwork ditches on digital images derived from Lidar data captured during 2005, to the north of Whorridge Farm. The earthwork ditches were not clearly visible on other aerial photographs or digital images made available to the survey.

Location

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

Devon County Council, 1838-1848, Tithe Mosaic, approximately 1838-1848 (Cartographic). SDV349431.

One of the earthwork ditches closely respects the line of a former field boundary depicted on the Bradninch parish tithe map and may not form part of the catch meadow system.

Environment Agency, 1998-2012, LiDAR DSM data JPEG image (1m resolution), LIDAR ST0105 Environment Agency DSM 19-DEC-2005 (Cartographic). SDV357034.

The possible catch meadow is visible as a series of earthwork ditches.

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 19th century date is visible as a series of earthwork ditches on digital images derived from Lidar data captured during 2005, to the north of Whorridge Farm. 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 partial catch meadow covers an area of approximately 1.23 hectares of moderate southeast facing slope. The system comprises a series of gutters which measure less than 2m in width and appear to tap one of two spring-fed streams located approximately 71m to the north or 45m to the south. It is unclear from the aerial photographs alone with which farm this water meadow system might have been associated with. Not being directly linked to a farmstead it probably operated as a ‘detached’ system. The earthwork ditches would appear to represent evidence of a former catch meadow, although one of the earthwork ditches does closely respect the line of a former field boundary depicted on the Bradninch parish tithe map. The earthwork ditches were not clearly visible on other aerial photographs or digital images made available to the survey.

Sources / Further Reading

SDV349431	Cartographic: Devon County Council. 1838-1848. Tithe Mosaic, approximately 1838-1848. Digitised Tithe Map. Digital.
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
SDV357034	Cartographic: Environment Agency. 1998-2012. LiDAR DSM data JPEG image (1m resolution). Environment Agency LiDAR data. Digital. LIDAR ST0105 Environment Agency DSM 19-DEC-2005. [Mapped feature: #67199 ]

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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