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Summary

Curvilinear ditches or channels visible as earthworks on aerial photographs of the 1940s onwards on the bank of the River Clyst to the north of Stooke Bridge, Broad Clyst, were probably the remains of a field boundary and drainage channels or a catch meadow of probably 19th to early 20th century date. The channels probably survive as shallow earthwork ditches.

Location

Protected Status: none recorded

Other References/Statuses: none recorded

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• DRAIN? (XVIII to XIX - 1800 AD? to 1880 AD (Between))
• WATER MEADOW? (XVIII to XIX - 1800 AD? to 1880 AD (Between))

Full description

Royal Air Force, 1946, RAF/CPE/UK/1823, RAF/CPE/UK/1823 RP 3163-3167 04-NOV-1946 (Aerial Photograph). SDV354994.

Curvilinear earthwork ditches were visible.

BKS Surveys Ltd, 1967, BKS/2822, BKS/2822 V 3001-3002 14-MAR-1967 (Aerial Photograph). SDV354836.

Curvilinear earthwork ditches remained clearly visible.

Environment Agency, 1998-2012, LiDAR DSM data JPEG image (1m resolution), LIDAR SY0298 Environment Agency JPG DSM 19 Dec 2005
& 5 Mar 2010 (Cartographic). SDV357034.

Curvilinear earthwork ditches remained visible.

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

Curvilinear ditches or channels visible as earthworks on aerial photographs of the 1940s onwards on the bank of the River Clyst to the north of Stooke Bridge, Broad Clyst, were probably the remains of a field boundary and drainage channels or a catch meadow of probably 19th to early 20th century date.
Five of the earthwork ditches are approximately 6 metres wide and arranged a parallel pattern between 17 and 21 metres apart on the floor of the combe between Phillips’s Lane and the River Clyst. The topography appears to be relatively level and the channels are significantly broader than is typical for a catch meadow, which makes their interpretation as a water meadow problematical. It is possible they are the remains of a hybrid water meadow that operated in a manner more similar to a bedwork, but it seems probable that an interpretation as some type of drainage channel or water management system is more plausible.
The channels appear to abut and possibly feed into the ditches that flank an earthwork bank at their southern end. This bank is interpreted as the remains of a former field boundary. It is likely that the boundary ditches were incorporated into the possible water management system immediately to the north.
Neither the ditches nor the former field boundary were depicted on the Ordnance Survey First Edition 25 inch map which might support the interpretation that they had passed out of use by the 1880s.
The earthworks survive to be visible on digital images derived from lidar data captured in 2005 and 2010.

Sources / Further Reading

SDV354836	Aerial Photograph: BKS Surveys Ltd. 1967. BKS/2822. BKS Surveys Ltd. Photograph (Paper). BKS/2822 V 3001-3002 14-MAR-1967. [Mapped feature: #71976 ]
SDV354994	Aerial Photograph: Royal Air Force. 1946. RAF/CPE/UK/1823. Royal Air Force Aerial Photograph. Photograph (Paper). RAF/CPE/UK/1823 RP 3163-3167 04-NOV-1946.
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
SDV357034	Cartographic: Environment Agency. 1998-2012. LiDAR DSM data JPEG image (1m resolution). Environment Agency LiDAR data. Digital. LIDAR SY0298 Environment Agency JPG DSM 19 Dec 2005 & 5 Mar 2010.

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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