MMO2567 - Post-medieval water meadow south of Cowbridge Cross (Monument)

A post-medieval water meadow system at Cowbridge was noted on aerial photographs. [1] A post-medieval water meadow system, known locally as a catchwater meadow, is visible on aerial photographs as a series of earthworks in a field south of Cowbridge Cross, Wootton Courtenay. Centred at approximately SS 9568 4288, three gutters are visible on a very gentle southeast facing slope above the River Avill. 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 field is now a cricket pitch and any traces of the water meadow have been destroyed. 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. Most catchwater meadows are believed to date to the post-medieval period, although it is possible that they were first developed in the medieval period. [2-5] This record was enhanced as part of the National Record of the Historic Environment to Exmoor National Park Historic Environment Record data transfer project. [6,7]