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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 1945 onwards, at Monkerton. Earthwork ditches remain visible on Lidar-derived images of 1998 and 2005.

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, 1945, RAF/106G/UK/996, RAF/106G/UK/996 RVp4 6286-87 12-NOV-1945 (Aerial Photograph). SDV358938.

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

Environment Agency, 1998-2012, LiDAR DSM data JPEG image (1m resolution), LIDAR SX9694 Environment Agency JPEG DSM 03-MAY-1998 & 19-DEC-2005 (Cartographic). SDV357034.

The possible catch meadow is visible as a series of partial 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 1945 onwards, at Monkerton. 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 1.60 hectares of southeast facing slope. The system comprises a series of parallel gutters which measure less than 2m in width and appear to be bisected by a northwest to southeast aligned drain, which possibly served to feed the system by diverting the flow of water from further uphill. 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 partial earthwork ditches on Lidar-derived images of 1998 and 2005.

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
SDV357034	Cartographic: Environment Agency. 1998-2012. LiDAR DSM data JPEG image (1m resolution). Environment Agency LiDAR data. Digital. LIDAR SX9694 Environment Agency JPEG DSM 03-MAY-1998 & 19-DEC-2005.
SDV358938	Aerial Photograph: Royal Air Force. 1945. RAF/106G/UK/996. Royal Air Force Aerial Photograph. Photograph (Paper). RAF/106G/UK/996 RVp4 6286-87 12-NOV-1945. [Mapped feature: #72946 ]

Associated Monuments: none recorded

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV6530 - The East and Mid-Devon Rivers Catchment NMP project (Ref: ACD613)
• EDV8464 - Archaeological Evaluation at Tithe Barn Green (Monkerton) (Ref: 4504)

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