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Summary

A possible simple catchmeadow system east of Lowmoor Farm is visible as a curvilinear earthwork ditch on aerial photographs taken from the 1940s onwards. It is unclear whether slight earthworks survive.

Location

Protected Status: none recorded

Other References/Statuses: none recorded

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• CATCH MEADOW (XVIII to XIX - 1701 AD to 1900 AD (Between))

Full description

Ordnance Survey, 1904 - 1906, Second Edition Ordnance Survey 25 inch Map (Cartographic). SDV325644.

No features are depicted in this location.

Royal Air Force, 1947, RAF/CPE/UK/1974, RAF/CPE/UK/1974 FP 3289-3290 11-APR-1947 (Aerial Photograph). SDV356127.

A curvilinear earthwork ditch is visible. Map object partly based on this source.

Next Perspectives, 2003, Pan Government Agreement, Next Perspectives PGA Imagery ST0912 29-MAY-2003 (Aerial Photograph). SDV357104.

A curvilinear earthwork ditch is visible. Map object partly based on this source.

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

A narrow curvilinear earthwork ditch, less than 2 metres wide, is visible on aerial photographs taken from 1946 onwards on a combe slope east of Lowmoor Farm. It closely follows the contour, dropping less than 5 metres over more than 300 metres. The location and alignment along the contour indicate that this could have been the gutter of a small catchmeadow system of probable nineteenth or early twentieth century date.
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.
This source for this small probable catch meadow system is not clearly apparent from the available aerial photographs, but it are most likely to been taken off the watercourse at circa ST0935412411. Although remains of the gutters appear to have survived in 2003, they are not visible on the most recent available aerial photographs and it is not clear how well above or below-ground remains survive.

Sources / Further Reading

SDV325644	Cartographic: Ordnance Survey. 1904 - 1906. Second Edition Ordnance Survey 25 inch Map. Second Edition Ordnance Survey 25 inch Map. Map (Digital).
SDV356127	Aerial Photograph: Royal Air Force. 1947. RAF/CPE/UK/1974. Royal Air Force Aerial Photograph. Photograph (Paper). RAF/CPE/UK/1974 FP 3289-3290 11-APR-1947.
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
SDV357104	Aerial Photograph: Next Perspectives. 2003. Pan Government Agreement. Pan Government Agreement Aerial Photographs. Digital. Next Perspectives PGA Imagery ST0912 29-MAY-2003.

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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