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Summary

A possible simple catchmeadow is visible as a curvilinear earthwork ditch on aerial photographs taken from 1947 and on images derived from lidar data captured between 2005 and 2010.

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, although a sluice is marked along a watercourse adjacent to the field boundary to the east at ST0726908106 .

Royal Air Force, 1947, RAF/CPE/UK/1974, RAF/CPE/UK/1974 FP 4290-4291 11-APR-1947 (Aerial Photograph). SDV356127.

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

Environment Agency, 2005-2012, LiDAR DTM data JPEG image (1m resolution), LIDAR ST0708 Environment Agency JPEG DTM 19-DEC-2005 to 05-MAR-2010 (Cartographic). SDV357033.

A curvilinear earthwork ditch is indistinctly 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 curvilinear ditch, less than 2 metres wide, is visible as an earthwork on aerial photographs taken in 1947, east of Kentisbeare. It is closely aligned with the contour and interpreted as the gutter of a probable simple catchmeadow, of likely nineteenth or early twentieth century date. It is visible as a slight earthwork on images derived from lidar data captured between 2005 and 2010.
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 appears to be a watercourse to the south-east, at ST0726908106 where a sluice is depicted on historic maps.

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 4290-4291 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
SDV357033	Cartographic: Environment Agency. 2005-2012. LiDAR DTM data JPEG image (1m resolution). Environment Agency LiDAR data. Digital. LIDAR ST0708 Environment Agency JPEG DTM 19-DEC-2005 to 05-MAR-2010.

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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