MSO7049 - 19th Century leat on Tom's Hill (Monument)

A water channel on Tom's Hill, of a type known as a leat or head main, is visible as an earthwork on aerial photographs. It is probably of 19th Century date and associated with an extensive water meadow immediately to the east.

A ploughed out leat, southeast of Tom's Hill Farm, is visible as an indistinct feature measuring c. 0.8 metres wide and c0.2 metres deep. [1] The leat appears to join another leat in the Long Combe water meadow system (MSO7028). [4] A water channel on Tom's Hill, of a type known as a leat or head main, is visible as an earthwork over 300 metes long on aerial photographs of the 1940s and 1950s, centred on circa SS 81404297. It is probably of 19th century date and was most likely part of a wider programme of agricultural improvements associated with Larkbarrow Farm. Further leats are visible to the north and south, and this water channel probably fed into an extensive water meadow immediately to the east, to the south of Larkbarrow Farm, but no physical connection is visible. It is now largely ploughed level. [5-8] This record was enhanced as part of the National Record of the Historic Environment to Exmoor National Park Historic Environment Record data transfer project. [9]