MMO2993 - Post-medieval water meadow south of Kennels (Monument)

A water meadow of post-medieval date is partially visible as earthwork channels to the southeast of Lower Thorne, at circa SS 8488 3819, and is partly inferred from surface flushes of water visible on aerial photographs of the 1940s. It is probably of a type known as a catchwork, ditch gutter or field gutter system, which are typically found on combe or hill slopes. They are designed to irrigate pasture by diverting water from a spring or stream along the slope via the 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. 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. It was probably supplied with water from a spring that issues to the southwest of the inferred area of coverage, and more gutters may be present, perhaps cut along the line of field boundaries, and not visible on the available aerial photographs. [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]