MMO1900 - 19th Century water meadow northwest of South Sparhanger (Monument)

A post-medieval water meadow of a type known locally as a catchwork or catch-meadow system was constructed on a south-west facing slope above the West Lyn River at circa SS 71784613, to north-west of a farm at South Sparhanger, with which it is probably associated. Catchwork systems are usually found on steep combe sides and are designed to irrigate pasture by diverting water from a spring or stream along the valley sides via a series of channels or gutters. When irrigation was required the gutters were blocked, causing water to overflow, 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 the March and April. Any excess water then returned to the feeder stream at the valley bottom or was removed by a tail drain. The use of a series of parallel gutters to improve the coverage, as seen here, is a common feature of Exmoor systems. This system may be an example of an `integrated system', where the water is passed though the farmstead to pick up manure and subsequently distribute this liquid fertaliser on the slopes. Although a similar system attached to a neighbouring farm to the south can be seen in operation in April 1972, by this time this system may have passed out of use and appears to have been at least partly damaged by agricultural improvements of the pasture. [1-5] 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]