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Summary

A small catch meadow of probable post-medieval to 20th century date was visible on aerial photographs of the 1940s onwards as earthwork ditches or gutters to the south of Moorland Farm. The earthworks gutters have probably been levelled.

Location

Protected Status: none recorded

Other References/Statuses: none recorded

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• CATCH MEADOW (Post Medieval to XXI - 1540 AD to 2005 AD (Between))

Full description

Royal Air Force, 1946, RAF/CPE/UK/1823, RAF/CPE/UK/1823 RP 3247-3248 04-NOV-1946 (Aerial Photograph). SDV354994.

Parallel earthwork ditches were visible.

Environment Agency, 1998-2012, LiDAR DSM data JPEG image (1m resolution), LIDAR SS9802 Environment Agency DSM 19-DEC-2005 (Cartographic). SDV357034.

The earthwork gutters remained visible as subtle earthworks.

Next Perspectives, 2002, Pan Government Agreement, Next Perspectives PGA Imagery SS9802 29-SEP-2002 (Aerial Photograph). SDV356896.

The earthwork gutters remained visible as subtle earthworks.

Hegarty, C. + Knight, S. + Sims, R., 2014-2015, East and Mid Devon River Catchments National Mapping Programme Project (Interpretation). SDV356883.

A small catch meadow of probable post-medieval to 20th century date was visible on aerial photographs of the 1940s onwards as earthwork ditches or gutters on south-west to south-east facing combe slopes to the south of Moorland Farm.
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.
In this instance the possible catch meadow was probably supplied by a spring-fed stream that rises at the farmstead and flows in a south-easterly direction along the western edge of a field boundary. The gutters remained identifiable earthwork ditches on digital images derived from lidar data captured in 2005.

Sources / Further Reading

SDV354994	Aerial Photograph: Royal Air Force. 1946. RAF/CPE/UK/1823. Royal Air Force Aerial Photograph. Photograph (Paper). RAF/CPE/UK/1823 RP 3247-3248 04-NOV-1946. [Mapped feature: #67787 ]
SDV356883	Interpretation: Hegarty, C. + Knight, S. + Sims, R.. 2014-2015. East and Mid Devon River Catchments National Mapping Programme Project. AC Archaeology Report. Digital.
	Linked documents:1
SDV356896	Aerial Photograph: Next Perspectives. 2002. Pan Government Agreement. Pan Government Agreement Aerial Photographs. Digital. Next Perspectives PGA Imagery SS9802 29-SEP-2002.
SDV357034	Cartographic: Environment Agency. 1998-2012. LiDAR DSM data JPEG image (1m resolution). Environment Agency LiDAR data. Digital. LIDAR SS9802 Environment Agency DSM 19-DEC-2005.

Associated Monuments: none recorded

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV6530 - The East and Mid-Devon Rivers Catchment NMP project (Ref: ACD613)

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