MMO1933 - 19th Century water meadow southwest of Brendon Manor Farm (Monument)

A simple water meadow of probable 19th Century, of a type known locally as a catchwork or field gutter system, is visible as a ditch or water channel on aerial photographs taken in 1972. It apparently functioned as a detached system.

A simple water meadow of probable 19th Century date, of a type known locally as a catchwork or field gutter system, is visible as a ditch or water channel on aerial photographs, to the southwest of Brendon Manor Farm, centred on circa SS 74404698, Brendon parish. 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 channels or gutters, either singly or in a series of roughly parallel 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 the March and April. Any excess water then returned to the feeder stream at the valley bottom or was removed by a tail drain. This example appears to be fed by two springs on the combe side below the farm, and is probably therefore a 'detached' system, which distributed only what fertiliser was carried to it. [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]