MMO517 - 19th Century leat adjacent to Dane's Brook (Monument)

A possible 19th Century water meadow comprises a shallow channel cut into the hillside and embanked on its downslope side. It is joined below Moorhouse by a channel leading from a dung pit attached to the former farmyard.

A leat, comprising a shallow channel 0.3 metres deep cut into the hillside by 0.5metres and embanked on its downslope side by 0.4 metres. The leat passes below Moorhouse, where it is joined by a channel leading from a dung pit attached to the former farmyard. The purpose of the leat is unclear but presumably it served to irrigate the steeper fields near the deserted farmstead of Moorhouse. [1] A leat or carriage gutter of probable 19th Century date is visible as an earthwork on aerial photographs of the 1940s onwards as a ditch running for nearly 2 kilometres from circa SS 8189 3212 at Lower Willingford Bridge to circa SS 8347 3099, about 250 metres to the southeast of the deserted farmstead of Moorhouse. It is depicted on the 1:2500 Ordnance Survey map of Devonshire, 1890 [4]. The feature probably served as a basic field gutter water meadow. The information provided by [1] regarding the connection to the dung pit at Moorhouse indicates that this probably operated as an integrated system, whereby the dung was added to the water to be distributed on the slopes as liquid fertiliser. The channel can be seen in use on aerial photographs of 1946. [2-6] This record was enhanced as part of the National Record of the Historic Environment to Exmoor National Park Historic Environment Record data transfer project. [7]