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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 onwards, to the south of West Manley. It remains visible as a series of earthwork ditches on aerial photographs of 1967, although its survival after this date is unclear and may have been completely levelled.

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

Royal Air Force, 1947, RAF/CPE/UK/1974 RP, RAF/CPE/UK/1974 RP 3281-82 11-APR-1947 (Aerial Photograph). SDV357337.

Earthwork ditches possibly associated with the catch meadow are visible.

Meridian Airmaps Limited, 1967, MAL/67001 V, MAL/67001 V 222 19-JAN-1967 (Aerial Photograph). SDV357340.

The 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 catch meadow of probable 19th century date is visible as a series of earthwork ditches on aerial photographs of 1947 onwards, to the south of West Manley. 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 0.34 hectares of northwest facing slope. The system comprises a series of gutters which measure less than 2m in width and appear to tap either a stream that flows downslope from the Grand Western Canal, approximately 150m to the southwest, or is fed from a northwest to southeast aligned earthwork ditch which intersects the system. 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 visible as a series of earthwork ditches on aerial photographs of 1967, although its survival after this date is unclear 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.
	Linked documents:1
SDV357337	Aerial Photograph: Royal Air Force. 1947. RAF/CPE/UK/1974 RP. Royal Air Force Aerial Photograph. Photograph (Paper). RAF/CPE/UK/1974 RP 3281-82 11-APR-1947.
SDV357340	Aerial Photograph: Meridian Airmaps Limited. 1967. MAL/67001 V. Meridian Airmaps Limited Aerial Photograph. Photograph (Paper). MAL/67001 V 222 19-JAN-1967. [Mapped feature: #67769 ]

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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