MMO2995 - Post-medieval water meadow south of Withycombe (Monument)

A water meadow of probable post-medieval date can be seen to the south of Withycombe as earthwork channels on aerial photographs of the 1940s onwards. The channels probably form a type known as a catchwork, ditch gutter or field gutter system, which are typically found on the combe or hill slopes of Exmoor. The visible extent of this system covers approximately 3 hectares of valley side above Pennycombe Water centred at circa SS 8283 3798. Such systems were designed to irrigate pasture by diverting water from a spring or stream along the slope via the 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 system was probably supplied with water from a spring fed stream issuing to the northwest, near Newland Cross. It was probably constructed when Withycombe was still a small hamlet of two or three farms and was most likely associated with a single holding to the southwest of the settlement. Although it is tempting to associate it with a very similar system to the north of Withycombe, this would have probably belonged one of the other holdings. [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]