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Summary

A possible catch meadow of probable 19th century date is visible as a series of earthwork ditches on aerial photographs of 1947 onwards, to the northeast of Lower Collipriest Farm.

Location

Protected Status

• SHINE: Cranmore Castle Fort. Earthworks of an Iron Age hillfort Tiverton, earthworks of catch meadow system of probable 19th century date and historic farm buildings at Castlebarn

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 RP, RAF/CPE/UK/1974 RP 3278-79 11-APR-1947 (Aerial Photograph). SDV357337.

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

Environment Agency, 2005-2012, LiDAR DTM data JPEG image (1m resolution), LIDAR SS9511 Environment Agency JPEG DTM 19-DEC-2005 - 20-FEB-2012 (Cartographic). SDV357033.

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 aerial photographs of 1947 onwards, to the northeast of Lower Collipriest 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 catch meadow covers an area of approximately 1.51 hectares of southwest facing slope. The system comprises a series of gutters which measure less than 2m in width and appear to tap a spring-fed stream that rises approximately 328m to the east. 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 catch meadow remains partly visible as a series of earthwork ditches on digital images derived from Lidar data captured between 2005 and 2012.

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
SDV357033	Cartographic: Environment Agency. 2005-2012. LiDAR DTM data JPEG image (1m resolution). Environment Agency LiDAR data. Digital. LIDAR SS9511 Environment Agency JPEG DTM 19-DEC-2005 - 20-FEB-2012.
SDV357337	Aerial Photograph: Royal Air Force. 1947. RAF/CPE/UK/1974 RP. Royal Air Force Aerial Photograph. Photograph (Paper). RAF/CPE/UK/1974 RP 3278-79 11-APR-1947. [Mapped feature: #67711 ]

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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