MSO6299 - 19th Century water meadow east of Fairgarden Farm (Monument)

Water meadow system seen on APs at Fairgarden Farm. [1-2] A water meadow of probable 19th century date, of a type known as a catchwork or field gutter system, is visible on aerial photographs as earthworks to the east of Fairgarden Farm, Wootton Courtenay parish, with which it is probably associated. The gutters are probably fed by a spring to the south of the farm, at circa SS 933 421, and drain into a tributary to the Avill, via a system of probably post-medieval herringbone pattern drains visible as cropmarks to the northeast. The system is only fragmentarily visible but can be seen to cover an area of approximately 4 hectares centred on circa SS 9335 4221, not as mislocated in P. Francis' dissertation of 1984, SS 933 436 some 1.4 kilometres to the north. The water meadow is of a type known as a catchwork or field gutter system found on combe or hill slopes and designed to irrigate pasture usually 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. [3-5] 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]