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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 1971, to the south of Broomfields. It is not clearly visible on other aerial photographs or digital images made available to the survey and may have since been completely levelled.

Location

Protected Status: none recorded

Other References/Statuses: none recorded

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• CATCH MEADOW (Post Medieval to XIX - 1540 AD to 1900 AD (Between))

Full description

Royal Air Force, 1971, RAF/39/3821, RAF/39/3821 V 063-64 29-OCT-1971 (Aerial Photograph). SDV359591.

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

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 19th century date is visible as a series of earthwork ditches on aerial photographs of 1971, to the south of Broomfields. 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 fragmented catch meadow covers an area of approximately 0.7 hectares of southwest facing slope. It is visible as a series of curvilinear earthwork ditches which are bisected by a linear northeast to southwest aligned drain which may have served to feed the system by diverting the flow of water from a watercourse further uphill to the north. 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 is not clearly visible on other aerial photographs or digital images made available to the survey and may have since been completely levelled.

Sources / Further Reading

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
SDV359591	Aerial Photograph: Royal Air Force. 1971. RAF/39/3821. Royal Air Force Aerial Photograph. Photograph (Paper). RAF/39/3821 V 063-64 29-OCT-1971. [Mapped feature: #74592 ]

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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