MMO2730 - Post-medieval water meadow nort of Sherracombe Ford (Monument)

A possible post-medieval water meadow system is visible on aerial photographs as a series of earthworks. This appears to have been a detached system that only distributed water to the fields and not liquid manure or other fertilisers.

A possible post-medieval water meadow system, known locally as a catchwater meadow, is visible on aerial photographs as a series of earthworks to the north and west of Sherracombe Ford, Brayford. Centred at SS 7198 3677 a pair of roughly parallel curvilinear shallow ditches can be seen, following the contours of the east facing slope above Sherracombe. The gutters are cut by post-medieval boundaries in several places, but also cut through earlier, possibly medieval field boundaries. They extend across two fields, and cover an area of approximately 3 hectares. There are no local farmyards in the vicinity, suggesting that this was a detached system which only distributed water to the fields and not liquid manure or other fertilisers. Catchwater meadows used a series of approximately parallel gutters to distribute flowing water evenly over the surface of the meadow in order to prevent freezing in winter and encourage early growth in spring, thereby providing extra feed for livestock. Most catchwater meadows are believed to date to the post-medieval period, although it is possible that they were first developed in the medieval period. [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]