MMO1454 - Post-medieval water meadow north of Silcombe Farm (Monument)

A water meadow was seen on aerial photographs at Silcombe. [1,2] A post-medieval water meadow system, visible as curvilinear earthworks, was mapped from aerial photographs taken in 1947. The water meadow is centred at SS 8352 4832 on northwest and east facing hillslopes in fields immediately north of Silcombe Farm are a series of curvilinear earthwork ditches, known as a gutter drainage system or catch water meadow. The series of roughly parallel ditches follow the contours of the northwest and east facing slopes and carry water over and off the fields. Most of the ditches were still visible on aerial photographs taken in 1979. [3-5] This record was enhanced as part of the National Record of the Historic Environment to Exmoor National Park Historic Environment Record data transfer project. [6]