MMO3109 - 19th Century water meadow on Marshclose Hill (Monument)

A water meadow of probable 19th Century date is visible on aerial photographs as earthworks to the northeast of Hawkridge, centred on circa SS 8637 3099, on the northeast valley slopes above the River Barle. 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. The gutters cover an area of over approximately 13 hectares, although the system is somewhat fragmentary to the southeast of its extent, around the three spring fed streams that probably supply the gutters. It is not clear from the aerial photographs alone with which farm it is associated, but it does surround the Marshclose Barn bank barn. [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]