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Summary

A catch meadow of probable 19th century date is visible as a series of earthwork ditches on aerial photographs of 1947 onwards, to the southeast of Burlehayes Cottage. The catch meadow remains visible on digital images captured in 2002.

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, 1947, RAF/CPE/UK/1974, RAF/CPE/UK/1974 RS 4075-76 11-APR-1947 (Aerial Photograph). SDV356127.

An earthwork ditch is visible.

Royal Air Force, 1971, RAF/39/3800, RAF/39/3800 V 051-52 06-OCT-1971 (Aerial Photograph). SDV359525.

Earthwork ditches are visible. Map object partly based on this source.

Google, 2015, Google Earth Pro, EARTH.GOOGLE.COM XX-XXX-2002 ACCESSED 27-JUN-2016 (Aerial Photograph). SDV359580.

Earthwork ditches are visible. Map object partly based on this source.

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

A catch meadow of probable 19th century date is visible as a series of earthwork ditches on aerial photographs of 1947 onwards, to the southeast of Burlehayes Cottage. 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 partial catch meadow covers an area of approximately 0.16 hectares of southwest facing slope. It comprises two gutters which measure less than 2m in width and appear to tap a spring-fed stream that rises to the northwest. 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 on digital images captured in 2002.

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 RS 4075-76 11-APR-1947.
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
SDV359525	Aerial Photograph: Royal Air Force. 1971. RAF/39/3800. Royal Air Force Aerial Photograph. Photograph (Paper). RAF/39/3800 V 051-52 06-OCT-1971.
SDV359580	Aerial Photograph: Google. 2015. Google Earth Pro. Various. Digital. EARTH.GOOGLE.COM XX-XXX-2002 ACCESSED 27-JUN-2016.

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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