MMO2987 - Post-medieval water meadow northwest of Lower Mill (Monument)

A water meadow of probable post-medieval date is visible on aerial photographs as earthworks. It is almost on the very bottom of the valley floor and may represent a catchwork system, a bedwork system or a combination of the two.

A water meadow of probable post-medieval date is visible on aerial photographs as earthworks to the northwest and southeast of Fords, formerly Higher Mill Farm, Exford parish, centred on circa SS 8427 3914. It appears to be a variation of a type known as a catchwork, ditch gutter or field gutter system, possibly a hybrid system operating like both a catchwork and a bedwork system. Catchwork water meadows are usually found on combe or hill slopes. They are designed to irrigate pasture by diverting water from a spring or stream along the slope via a series of roughly parallel channels or gutters. When irrigation was required the gutters were blocked, causing water to overflow from gutter to gutter, thereby irrigating the slopes. In contrast bedworks are more typical of lowland situations and broad river valleys. They operated by diverting water from a major watercourse, either by damming or a weir, and distributing it from a head channel over a gentle gradient via a complex system of sluices and parallel carrier channels. The primary function of both types of water meadow was to cover the ground with a moving film of water to prevent the ground from freezing during the winter and raise the temperature of the grass in the spring, thereby encouraging early growth. This was particularly important during the hungry gap of the March and April. The low lying situation of this system is somewhat unusual, but it appears to be of sufficient elevation, dropping between roughly 270 and 265 metres above Ordnance Datum, to allow the required flow of water. [1-4] This record was enhanced as part of the National Record of the Historic Environment to Exmoor National Park Historic Environment Record data transfer project. [5]