MMO2709 - 19th Century water meadow east of Tivington Knowle (Monument)

The remains of a water meadow of probable 19th Century date are visible on aerial photographs to the east of Tivington Knowle, centred at circa SS 9360 4462. This is a type of water meadow known as catchwork or field gutter system, commonly found on combe or hill slopes and 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. It is unclear, from the aerial photographic evidence alone, with which farm the water meadow was associated. As it is not connected to a farmstead, it probably is therefore what has been called a detached system which supplied only water and not fertilizer to the slopes. The three gutters tapped a head main or carriage-gutter which was supplied with water from a source approximately 370 metres upslope to the southeast. [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]