MSO7047 - Post-medieval water meadow at Long Combe (Monument)

A probable catchwork gutter is visible on aerial photographs as an earthwork. It taps Long Combe at the field boundary between the Larkbarrow and Tom's Hill estates and terminates at a field boundary some 650 metres to the northwest.

A contour leat on the lower south side of Long Combe taps the river at the boundary between Larkbarrow and Tom's Hill farms at its eastern end. In the west it terminates at a field boundary. The channel is about 0.5 metres wide and 0.2 metres deep with a retaining bank 1.3 metres wide. It crosses a quarry at SS 8115 4277. [1] It appears to join the water meadow system at Long Combe (MSO7028). (4) A water channel of a type known as a contour leat or gutter is visible on aerial photographs as an earthwork on the north facing slopes of Long Combe, roughly 250 metres to the south of Tom's Farm, centred on circa SS 8114 4279. The gutter taps Long Combe at the field boundary between the Larkbarrow and Tom's Hill estates and terminates at a field boundary some 650 metres to the northwest. With a second, somewhat slighter gutter immediately to the south, the channel probably acted as a simple catchwork or field gutter water meadow for the Tom's Hill farm estate. Such catchwork systems are usually found on steep combe sides and are designed to irrigate pasture by diverting water from a spring or stream along the valley sides via one or more channels or gutters. When irrigation was required the gutters were blocked, causing water to overflow, 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. [5-7] This record was enhanced as part of the National Record of the Historic Environment to Exmoor National Park Historic Environment Record data transfer project. [8]