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Summary

A possible catch meadow of probable post-medieval to 20th century date was visible on aerial photographs of the 1940s as narrow curvilinear and roughly parallel earthwork ditches on the gentle south-east facing slopes of the Otter Valley, south-east of Crook Dairy.
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

Protected Status: none recorded

Other References/Statuses: none recorded

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• WATER MEADOW (XVIII to XX - 1751 AD to 1947 AD (Between))

Full description

Royal Air Force, 1947, RAF/CPE/UK/1974, RAF/CPE/UK/1974 F20 3442-3443 11-APR-1947 (Aerial Photograph). SDV356127.

Narrow parallel earthwork ditches were visible.

Hegarty, C. + Knight, S. + Sims, R., 2016-2018, The Blackdown Hills AONB and East Devon River Catchments National Mapping Programme Project (Interpretation). SDV359463.

A possible catch meadow of probable post-medieval to 20th century date was visible on aerial photographs of the 1940s as narrow curvilinear and roughly parallel earthwork ditches on the gentle south-east facing slopes of the Otter Valley, south-east of Crook Dairy.
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.
The form of the visible gutters, which appear to have been in use in April 1947, might support the interpretation that the catch meadow operated as an attached system, receiving its water supply directly from the farmstead at Crook Dairy, possibly mixed with manure to form liquid fertiliser.
The earthworks could not be identified on later images available to the survey and have probably been levelled.

Sources / Further Reading

SDV356127	Aerial Photograph: Royal Air Force. 1947. RAF/CPE/UK/1974. Royal Air Force Aerial Photograph. Photograph (Paper). RAF/CPE/UK/1974 F20 3442-3443 11-APR-1947. [Mapped feature: #74306 ]
SDV359463	Interpretation: Hegarty, C. + Knight, S. + Sims, R.. 2016-2018. The Blackdown Hills AONB and East Devon River Catchments National Mapping Programme Project. Historic England Research Report. Digital.
	Linked documents:2

Associated Monuments: none recorded

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV7508 - The Blackdown Hills AONB and East Devon River Catchments National Mapping Programme (NMP) project (Ref: ACD1228)

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