MSO8333 - Post-medieval water meadow at Croydon House (Monument)

A post-medieval water meadow system, known locally as a catchwater meadow, is visible on aerial photographs as a series of earthworks around Croydon House, Timberscombe. Centred at approximately SS 963 407, gutters are visible in a number of fields surrounding Croydon House, following the contours of the west-facing slope. They appear to have been supplied with water from a nearby spring and stream, which runs through the yard at Croydon, suggesting that this was an integrated system which also distributed liquid manure as fertiliser to the fields. It is also possible that some of the gutters are actually associated with the water wheel which has been reported at Croydon House, but these are indistinguisable on aerial photographs from the water meadow gutters. 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. [1-4] 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]