MSO11836 - 19th Century water meadow southeast of Codsend (Monument)

Water meadow system seen on aerial photographs around Codsend Farm. [1] A water meadow irrigation system of probable 19th Century date is visible on aerial photographs as earthworks on the south of Codsend, centred on circa SS 8874 3967. As visible on the available photographs, the water meadow is relatively small, consisting of only 2 gutters up to 105 metres long, but it is possible further are present and not visible. Alternatively, any additional gutters may have been destroyed by later improvements; earlier records may have confused drains to the north of Codsend with further gutters. The gutters probably tapped a spring fed stream, a tributary to the Quarme, which rises circa 500 metres to the east, near Hawkington Farm. This is an example of 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. [3-5] This record was enhanced as part of the National Record of the Historic Environment to Exmoor National Park Historic Environment Record data transfer project. [6]