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HER Number: | MDV110139 |
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Name: | Catch Meadow West of Walnut House |
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Summary
A catch meadow of probable post-medieval to twentieth century date is visible on aerial photographs of the 1940s as roughly parallel narrow earthwork ditches on the south-west facing slopes to the west of Walnut House, Chitterley.
Catch meadows are usually found on combe or hill slopes and are designed to irrigate pasture by diverting water from a spring or stream and passing it along the slope via a series of roughly parallel channels or gutters. When irrigation was required the gutters were blocked, causing water to overflow from gutter to gutter, thereby irrigating the slopes below.
Location
Grid Reference: | SS 941 044 |
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Map Sheet: | SS90SW |
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Admin Area | Devon |
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Civil Parish | Bickleigh (MD) |
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District | Mid Devon |
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Ecclesiastical Parish | BICKLEIGH |
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Protected Status: none recorded
Other References/Statuses: none recorded
Monument Type(s) and Dates
- CATCH MEADOW (Post Medieval to XX - 1540 AD to 1946 AD (Between))
Full description
Royal Air Force, 1946, RAF/CPE/UK/1823 RS, RAF/CPE/UK/1823 RS 4254-4255 04-NOV-1946 (Aerial Photograph). SDV356902.
Narrow earthwork ditches are faintly visible.
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 post-medieval to twentieth century date is visible on aerial photographs of 1946 as roughly parallel narrow earthwork ditches on the south-west facing slopes to the west of Walnut House, Chitterley. The ditches, also known as field gutters, were extremely faintly visible, probably indicative of gutters that had not been maintained for a considerable time.
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.
In this instance the catch meadow was probably supplied by the spring-fed stream that flowed north-west from Lower Chitterley Farm towards Chitterleigh Cottage.
The gutters were not identifiable as earthworks on more recent aerial photographs available to the survey, including digital images derived from aerial photographs taken in 2010 and have probably therefore been 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. |
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| Linked documents:1 |
SDV356902 | Aerial Photograph: Royal Air Force. 1946. RAF/CPE/UK/1823 RS. Royal Air Force Aerial Photograph. Photograph (Paper). RAF/CPE/UK/1823 RS 4254-4255 04-NOV-1946. [Mapped feature: #69585 ] |
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Associated Monuments: none recorded
Associated Finds: none recorded
Associated Events
- EDV6530 - The East and Mid-Devon Rivers Catchment NMP project (Ref: ACD613)
Date Last Edited: | May 11 2017 12:00AM |
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