MSO11825 - Post-medieval water meadow system at North Batsom Farm (Monument)

A water meadow system was noted on aerial photographs around North Batsom Farm. [1] A series of earthworks channels are visible at North Batsom on aerial photographs of the 1940s, centred on circa SS 8491 3437. They are water channels are known as gutters forming a type of water meadow known as catchwork or field gutter system. Such systems are usually 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 water meadow is situated within a shallow combe to the east of Withypool Hill, between Hayes Wood and Kings Wood, and supplied with water a spring fed stream. The system can be seen in use on aerial photographs of 1947. Flushes of water alongside the hedgerow to the north of the farm indicate the presence of at least one gutter not visible on the available photographs, obscured by hedgerow vegetation and shadows. The system is not clearly visible on aerial photographs taken after 1964, with very few gutters visible on the images available on Google Earth at the time of Survey. [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]