MMO2850 - 19th Century water meadow southeast of Hawkington Farm (Monument)

A water meadow of probable 19th Century date, of a type known as a catchwork or field gutter system, is visible on aerial photographs as earthworks associated with Hawkington Farm, centred on circa SS 8935 3954. Such water meadows are typically found on combe or hill slopes and are designed to irrigate pasture by diverting water from a spring or stream along the slope via a series of roughly parallel channels or gutters. 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 the March and April. In total the water-meadow is visible covering an area of almost 8 hectares. Fragmentary sections of gutter are marked on the 1st Edition Ordnance Survey map [3], which may support the interpretation that the water meadow predates 1890 and had passed out of use by this time. However, the gutters can still be seen as subtle earthworks on aerial photographs of 1973. [1-5] This record was enhanced as part of the National Record of the Historic Environment to Exmoor National Park Historic Environment Record data transfer project. [6]