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Summary

Narrow curvilinear ditches and a bank, interpreted as the gutters of a possible post-medieval or 19th century catch meadow irrigation system, are visible as earthworks on aerial imagery taken from the 1940s onwards and on visualisations derived from lidar data captured in 2013.

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

Ordnance Survey, 1880-1899, First Edition Ordnance 25 inch map (Cartographic). SDV336179.

The earthworks do not correspond with any curvilinear features in this location.

Royal Air Force, 1946 - 1949, Royal Air Force Aerial Photographs (Aerial Photograph). SDV342938.

Curvilinear ditches are visible as earthworks.

Environment Agency, 2000-2019, LiDAR DTM data (1m resolution) EA: Tamar Aerial Survey project area, LIDAR Environment Agency LAST RETURN 02-APR-2013 (Cartographic). SDV363954.

Curvilinear ditches and a bank are visible as earthworks.

Google, 2019, Google Earth Pro, EARTH.GOOGLE.COM 22-JUN-2018 ACCESSED 02-FEB-2021 (Aerial Photograph). SDV363088.

A single curvilinear ditch is visible as an earthwork.

Hegarty, C., Houghton, E., Knight, S. and Sims, R., 2020-2021, Tamar/Lidar; A Single Source Approach to Landscape Survey and Socially Distanced Community Archaeology Area 2 (Culture Recovery Fund project) (Interpretation). SDV364011.

Narrow curvilinear ditches and a bank, between 1-3.5 metres wide, are visible as earthworks on aerial imagery taken from the 1940s onwards and on visualisations derived from lidar data captured in 2013. The earthworks follow the contours of the south-west facing combe slope and occupy an area of circa 0.84 hectares.
They are interpreted as the gutters of a post-medieval or 19th century catch meadow irrigation system possibly associated with Bradstone Barton and which tapped a spring that rises at the north-east extent of the system.
Catch meadow systems are designed to irrigate pasture by diverting water from a spring or stream. The water is carried along the valley sides via one or more channels or gutters and when irrigation was required the gutters were blocked, causing water to overflow from gutter to gutter, thereby irrigating the slopes. This film of water prevented the ground freezing during the winter and raised the temperature of the grass in the spring, thereby encouraging early growth, particularly important during the hungry gap of March and April.
No features are depicted in this exact location on the available historic mapping, and any catch meadow here presumably fell out of use by the late-19th century.
The gutters truncate the earthworks of a medieval field system.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV8356 - Tamar/Lidar; A Single Source Approach to Landscape Survey and Socially Distanced Community Archaeology Area 2 (Culture Recovery Fund) (Ref: ACD2424)

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