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Summary

A possible catch meadow of probable 19th century date is visible as a series of earthwork ditches or cropmarks on aerial photographs of 1999, at Millhayes. It was not clearly visible on other aerial photographs or digital images made available to the survey.

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

GetMapping, 1999, 069/99, Devon County Council GetMapping/068/99 181-82 11-JUL-1999 (Aerial Photograph). SDV355855.

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

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 or cropmarks on aerial photographs of 1999, at Millhayes. 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 2.16 hectares of gentle to moderate southwest facing slope. It comprises a series of faintly defined earthwork or cropmark gutters which measure less than 2m in width and likely tap the River Culm somewhere to the east of Millhayes, possibly from the leat which would have served Millhayes Mill and which is depicted on historic mapping. 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 was not clearly visible on other aerial photographs or digital images made available to the survey.

Sources / Further Reading

SDV355855	Aerial Photograph: GetMapping. 1999. 069/99. GetMapping Aerial Photograph. Photograph (Paper). Devon County Council GetMapping/068/99 181-82 11-JUL-1999. [Mapped feature: #75114 ]
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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