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Summary

A catch meadow of probable 19th century date is visible as a series of earthwork ditches on digital images derived from lidar data captured in 2016, to the northeast of Old Park, with which it was possibly associated. It was not clearly visible on aerial photographs or other 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

Bluesky International, 2016, LiDAR DTM data (0.5m resolution) Blackdown Hills and East Devon AONBs: 3 transects, LIDAR ST1409 Bluesky International DTM 05-MAY-2016 (Cartographic). SDV359714.

The 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 catch meadow of probable 19th century date is visible as a series of earthwork ditches on digital images derived from lidar data captured in 2016, to the northeast of Old Park, with which it was possibly associated. 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 0.60 hectares of northeast facing slope. The system comprises a series of gutters which measure less than 3m in width and appear to tap a spring-fed stream that rises approximately 290m to the southwest which flows through Old Park. The catch meadow was not clearly visible on aerial photographs or other digital images made available to the survey.

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
SDV359714	Cartographic: Bluesky International. 2016. LiDAR DTM data (0.5m resolution) Blackdown Hills and East Devon AONBs: 3 transects. Not applicable. Digital. LIDAR ST1409 Bluesky International DTM 05-MAY-2016. [Mapped feature: #77407 ]

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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