MMO2693 - 19th Century water meadow south of Manor Farm (Monument)

water meadow of probable 19th Century date is visible on aerial photographs to the south of Manor Farm, Wootton Courtenay, at circa SS 9391 4331. As the largest farm in this area in the 19th Century, it is probable the water meadow was associated with Manor Farm. This is 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. A short length of one of the parallel gutters is marked on the 1st Edition Ordnance Survey map of 1889, probably indicating the spring head source of the system. [1-4]