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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 parallel narrow earthwork ditches on the south-west facing slopes to the south of Penny Hill Farm, Stockland.
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

• CATCH MEADOW (Post Medieval to XX - 1540 AD to 1947 AD (Between))

Full description

Royal Air Force, 1947, RAF/CPE/UK/1974, RAF/CPE/UK/1974 RP 3431-3433 11-APR-1947 (Aerial Photograph). SDV356127.

Curvilinear earthwork ditches were visible.

Ordnance Survey, 1996, OS/96569, OS/96569 V 97-98 08-MAY-1996 (Aerial Photograph). SDV359324.

Curvilinear earthwork ditches were visible.

Environment Agency, 1998-2014, LiDAR DTM data (1m resolution), LIDAR ST2401 Environment Agency DTM 01-JAN-1998 to 30-SEP-2014 (Cartographic). SDV359177.

Curvilinear 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 parallel narrow earthwork ditches on the south-west facing slopes to the south of Penny Hill Farm, Stockland.
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. Any 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 water source for this system cannot be confidently identified from the maps available to the survey, but a spring fed stream or pond at Penny Hill Farm is likely. Water spilling downslope from the ditches indicate that this gutter was in use in April 1947. The gutters were visible as slight earthworks on aerial photographs of 1996 but were not clearly identifiable on more recent images available to the survey and have probably probably been reduced in height. However, the gutters can be seen to survive as very slight earthworks on digital images derived from lidar data.

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 RP 3431-3433 11-APR-1947.
SDV359177	Cartographic: Environment Agency. 1998-2014. LiDAR DTM data (1m resolution). Environment Agency LiDAR data. Digital. LIDAR ST2401 Environment Agency DTM 01-JAN-1998 to 30-SEP-2014. [Mapped feature: #74785 ]
SDV359324	Aerial Photograph: Ordnance Survey. 1996. OS/96569. Ordnance Survey Aerial Photograph. OS/96569 V 97-98 08-MAY-1996.
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

• EDV4655 - Survey of Farmsteads in the Blackdown Hills
• EDV7508 - The Blackdown Hills AONB and East Devon River Catchments National Mapping Programme (NMP) project (Ref: ACD1228)

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