MMO2728 - Post-medieval water meadow west of Beara (Monument)

A post-medieval water meadow system, known locally as a catchwater meadow, is visible on aerial photographs as a series of earthworks in fields immediately west of Beara, North Molton. Centred at approximately SS 7050 3511, two curvilinear gutters are visible, following the contours of a fairly steep west-facing slope above Holewater. The gutters extend across a single field, covering an area of approximately 0.7 hectares. The easternmost gutter appears to be connected to the farmyard at Beara, suggesting that this was an integrated system which also distributed liquid manure as fertiliser to the fields. A series of approximately parallel gutters were used 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. [1-3]