MMO1727 - Post-medieval water meadow west of Holdstone Farm (Monument)

A post-medieval water meadow system, known locally as a catchwater meadow is visible on aerial photographs as a series of earthworks to the west of Holdstone Farm. Five ditches, known as gutters and centred at SS 6141 4699, are visible running approximately east to west across three west facing fields. The gutters vary in length from 75 to 160 metres. This series of roughly parallel gutters were used to distribute flowing water evenly over the meadow in order to encourage early growth in spring and prevent freezing in winter. This system does not appear to be connected with the farmyard at Holdstone Farm, and may have been a detached system, with no access to liquid manure and fertilsers except what was carried out to it manually. The gutters appear to have been fed by a spring to the west of Holdstone Farm, at SS 6145 4708 draining into an unnamed stream 300 metres to the west. [1-3] This record was enhanced as part of the National Record of the Historic Environment to Exmoor National Park Historic Environment Record data transfer project. [4]