MMO2351 - Post-medieval water meadow south of Limecombe Cottage (Monument)

A post-medieval water meadow system is visible on aerial photographs as a series of earthworks. It appears to have been a detached system, which only distributed water to the fields and not liquid manure or other fertilisers.

A post-medieval water meadow system, known locally as a catchwater meadow, is visible on aerial photographs as a series of earthworks in fields south of Limecombe Cottage, Exmoor. Centred at approximately SS 7649 4009, a pair of parallel guttersare visible on the steep west facing slope above Lime Combe. The gutters vary in length from 140 metres to 300 metres in length, but both are between 1 and 3 metres wide. Catchwater meadows used a series of approximately parallel gutters to distribute flowing water evenly over the surface of the meadow in order to prevent freezing in winter and encourage early growth in spring, thereby providing extra feed for livestock. This system does not appear to be connected to any local farmyards, suggesting that this was a detached system which only distributed water to the fields and not liquid manure or other fertilisers. The system most likely dates to the mid 19th Century and is related to the land improvement activities by the Knight Family in this area. [1-3] This record was enhanced as part of the National Record of the Historic Environment to Exmoor National Park Historic Environment Record data transfer project. [4]