MSO9344 - Post-medieval water meadow at Higher Spire Farm (Monument)

A water meadow system was seen on aerial photographs taken in 1947 around Higher Spire Farm. [1,2] A post-medieval water meadow, known locally as a Catch Meadow Irrigation System is visible as earthworks on aerial photographs. It is associated with Higher Spire Farm. An incomplete system of parallel gutters are situated on slopes to the south east and east of the farm. It has been mapped form aerial photographs. [3-5] A water meadow of probable 19th Century date is visible on aerial photographs to the northeast and southwest of Higher Spire, at circa SS 8849 3281. 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. One of the parallel gutters to the east of the farm is marked on the 1st Edition Ordnance Survey map, indicating that the system probably predates 1890. [6-9] This record was enhanced as part of the National Record of the Historic Environment to Exmoor National Park Historic Environment Record data transfer project. [10]