MSO11987 - Post-medieval water meadow northeast of Oare House (Monument)

Earthwork remains of a water meadow system can be seen on the sides of Deddy Combe to the north and east of Oare House. [1] A post-medieval water meadow system, known locally as a catchwater meadow, is visible as an earthwork on aerial photographs to the south east of Oare House. Six gutters are visible, centred at SS 8033 4752, on a steep southwest facing slope covering an area measuring approximately 1.4 hectares. The gutters vary in length from between 60 to 75 metres, and were probably fed from Deddy Combe to the west. These parallel gutters were used to distribute flowing water evenly over the surface of the meadow, encouraging early growth in spring and preventing freezing in winter. The system appears to have been connected to the farmyard at Oare House, suggesting that this was an integrated system, which also distributed liquid manure as fertiliser over the fields. [2-4] This record was enhanced as part of the National Record of the Historic Environment to Exmoor National Park Historic Environment Record data transfer project. [5]