See important guidance on the use of this record.

If you have any comments or new information about this record, please email us.

Summary

A possible simple catch meadow of probable 19th to 20th century date was visible on aerial photographs of 1947 as a narrow ditch or gutter on the south-east-facing slopes below Overday Farm, Luppitt. The ditch has probably been levelled.

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 3299-3300 11-APR-1947 (Aerial Photograph). SDV356127.

Curvlinear ditches were visible as earthworks.

Hunting Surveys Limited, 1982, HSL/UK/82/45, HSL/UK/82/45 V 993-994 27-AUG-1982 (Aerial Photograph). SDV359526.

The gutters or channels were visisble as somewhat eroded earthworks.

Next Perspectives, 2010, Aerial Photography for Great Britain (Aerial Photograph). SDV359490.

The gutters were no longer visible as earthworks and have probably been levelled.

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

Two narrow curvillinear and roughly parallel earthwork ditches or channels were visible on aerial photographs of the 1940s on the north-east-facing combe slopes north of Bywood Farm, Dunkeswell parish. The ditches are interpreted as evidence of a former catch meadow of probable post-medieval to 20th century date.
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 system probably tapped the stream that rises immediately north-east of the farm for water. Surface water marking indicate that this gutter had recently been used, or was currently in use in April 1947. It also indicates that the highest gutter, often called the headmain, probably ran along, and was concealed by, the extant field boundary above the combe. Such gutters were often combined with hedgebank ditches in planned systems.
The earthwork could not be confidently identified as an earthwork on digital images derived from aerial photographs of 2010 and might have 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 RP 3299-3300 11-APR-1947. [Mapped feature: #76059 ]
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
SDV359490	Aerial Photograph: Next Perspectives. 2010. Aerial Photography for Great Britain. Aerial Photography for Great Britain Aerial Photographs. Digital.
SDV359526	Aerial Photograph: Hunting Surveys Limited. 1982. HSL/UK/82/45. Hunting Aero Surveys Aerial Photograph. Photograph (Paper). HSL/UK/82/45 V 993-994 27-AUG-1982.

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)

Search results generated by the HBSMR Gateway from exeGesIS SDM Ltd.