MMO2544 - 19th Century water meadow south of Tom's Hill Farm (Monument)

A ditch visible as an earthwork on aerial photographs to the south of Tom's Hill Farm may be the remains of a 19th Century water channel of a type known as a leat or field gutter, possibly forming part of an extensive water meadow of a type known as a catchwork or field gutter system. The earthwork is centred on SS 8130 4284 and can be seen for approximately 300 metres from circa SS 8129 4297 to SS 8137 4270. It probably tapped a spring fed tributary to Long Combe at its western end and terminates at the boundary with the Larkbarrow estate at its eastern end. It appears to continue eastwards into the Larkbarrow Farm estate to form part of an extensive water meadow system, but after about 200 metres the topography would have required an uphill flow, and it is probable that this leat is also fed from the east. It probably formed a water meadow system with five other gutters visible to the north and south of Tom's Hill Farm. Such catchwork systems are usually found on steep combe or hillsides and are designed to irrigate pasture by diverting water from a spring or stream along the valley sides via one or more 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 March and April. [1-4] 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]