MMO2837 - Post-medieval water meadow at Middle Staddon (Monument)

A possible water meadow is visible on aerial photographs as earthworks at Middle Staddon. It is of a type known as catchwork or field gutter system and might have been associated with the former farm at Middle Staddon. Such water meadows are typically found on combe or hill slopes and are designed to irrigate pasture by diverting water from a spring or stream along the slope via a series of roughly parallel channels or gutters. When irrigation was required the gutters were blocked, causing water to overflow from gutter to gutter, 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. This gutter comprises two or three gutters; one to the southwest of the farm buildings, and two, or possibly one divided by the track to Staddon Farm, to the northeast. [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]