MMO2273 - Post-medieval water channel south of Wilmersham Farm (Monument)

A spring fed water channel is visible as an earthwork on aerial photographs.It may have transported water from the spring to an area it was needed, possibly to water livestock, and operated as a simple water meadow.

A water channel is visible as an earthwork on aerial photographs at circa SS 8701 4329, to the south of Wilmersham Farm, Luccombe parish, with which it may be associated. Although fed from a spring at circa SS 8693 4293, it is clear that over 420 metres of the 570 metre course of this channel has been regulated, and it might be a type of water channel known as a head main. Such channels often had a dual function; transporting water from the spring to an area it was needed, possibly to water livestock, and potentially operating as a simple water meadow, irrigating a area of pasture on the upper slopes of Dady Combe. Several extensive head mains have been recorded on Exmoor, often several kilometres in length, and water meadows, of a type known as catchwork systems, are very widespread. Usually found on combe sides or hill slopes, catchwater water meadows are designed to irrigate pasture by diverting water from a spring or stream along the slope via one or more channels or gutters. When irrigation was required the channels were blocked, causing water to overflow, 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 the March and April. This channel is marked on the 1st Edition Ordnance Survey map of 1889 and is therefore 19th Century in date at the latest. [1,2] This record was enhanced as part of the National Record of the Historic Environment to Exmoor National Park Historic Environment Record data transfer project. [3]