Field system

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The study of field systems (collections of fields) in landscape history is concerned with the size, shape and orientation of a number of fields. These are often adjacent, but may be separated by a later feature.

Field systems by region

Czech Republic

In the Czech Republic (ancient Bohemia, Moravia and Czech Silesia), Ervín Černý undertook a study of medieval field systems.[1]

England

Although agriculture was practised earlier, the earliest recognisable field systems in England are neolithic. Cairnfields, which are pre-historic in date, are found in upland areas. They contain scattered stones and boulders and originated in surface clearance for agriculture.[2]

So called

Celtic fields can date from the Bronze Age through to the early Middle Ages. These fields are typically small and rectangular.[3] They are frequently coaxial - that is they form a system in which the boundaries of adjacent fields make a series of long, roughly parallel lines. The extensive coaxial field systems established by the Romans are described as centuriation
.

Ridge and Furrow in Grendon, Northamptonshire

Midlands but less so in the South-east and West country. No documents survive which explain how and when the change to open fields took place, but signs of the change are apparent in some areas in the 8th, 9th or 10th centuries.[2][4] The use of open fields began to decline in the 15th century. The landscape of open fields was frequently called "champion country".[5]

In England, there was a significant rise in enclosure during the Tudor period. Enclosure was quite often undertaken unilaterally by the landowner, sometimes illegally.[38][43] The widespread eviction of people from their lands resulted in the collapse of the open field system in those areas. The deprivations of the displaced workers has been seen by historians as a cause of subsequent social unrest.[38]

Enclosure of open fields during the 18th and 19th century produced field systems with larger rectangular fields, often with

blackthorn hedges. Adjacent areas were often enclosed at different times, leading to a change in orientation of the field systems between the two areas. The pattern of ridge and furrow
will often reveal the layout of the original open fields.

In parts of England where enclosure took place early (or which were never enclosed), fields are often small and have an irregular shape, sometimes described as "pocket handkerchief".

Recent changes of agricultural practice are eliminating old field boundaries, particularly by removing

hedges
, to produce much larger fields reminiscent of traditional open fields.

Ireland

The most famous ancient field system in Ireland is the Céide Fields, an extensive series of stone walls dating back to 3500 BC. Similar stone wall field systems dating back to the Atlantic Bronze Age are visible in western Ireland and on the Aran Islands.[6][7]

The primitive

Norman invasion of Ireland
.

The

manorial system similar to that of the rest of Europe as practiced. Strips of land belonging to the village farmers lay in two or three enormous open fields, each cultivated with the same crop on an agreed cycle — typically a three-year cycle of cereal, then legume, then fallow.[10][11]

In marginal land (especially the high-rainfall west of Ireland),

oats after a few years of lying fallow.[13]

The present system of fields in Ireland dates to the 17th–18th century onwards, with

lazy beds and drystone walls.[15]

The

national parks.[16]

Wales

Where early fields survive in Wales, most are associated with settlement features that indicate an Iron Age or Romano-British date. However buried soils as well peat pollen cores indicate earlier land-use of these areas and radiocarbon dates suggest a limited amount of woodland clearance as early as the Later Mesolithic [17]

Canada

The field system of French settlers in Quebec along the St. Lawrence River was arranged in narrow plots extending away from the river, to allow houses along the river and relatively close together. See Seigneurial system of New France.

Identifying former field systems

The

tithe maps. It is often possible to draw conclusions about relative age by looking at how field boundaries meet. Later boundaries will often abut, but not cross earlier boundaries.[18]

Drawing conclusions from analysis of field systems

Fields were organised for the convenience of the farmer - both arable and pastoral. Therefore, the size of fields often gives an indication of the type of agriculture and agricultural implements in use when they were established. The shape and orientation of collections of fields provides clues about the date they were established. Field systems can give an indication of land ownership and social structure. The extent to which the field system respects other features (or not) can be used as dating evidence for the other features or the field system itself. For example, a field system that doesn't respect a Roman road is likely to predate it. Similarly, a feature that respects medieval ridge and furrow is likely to post date it.

The Rodings (the largest group of parishes in England to bear a common name)[19] was investigated by Steven Basset.[20] Basset showed that a broadly rectilinear field system (and other features such as roads) continued across parish boundaries thus showing that the field system pre-dated the formation of parishes.[21] He therefore concluded that they had originally been a single estate.

See also

Notes

  1. ISBN 80-850-4840-X
    .
  2. ^ a b Field Systems, English Heritage, May, 2011
  3. ISBN 978-0-460-04159-1
    . (However, he says the term "celtic fields" is "totally misleading and meaningless.")
  4. ^ Hooke, Della (1998). The landscape of Anglo-Saxon England. Leicester University Press. p. 115.
  5. ISBN 978-1-902806-58-7
    .
  6. doi:10.1016/0034-6667(86)90025-4
    .
  7. ISBN 9781135108557
    .
  8. ^ "Old field system. Brideswell, Roscommon, Ireland – aerial photo". www.cambridgeairphotos.com.
  9. ^ "Old field system. Tuam, Galway, Ireland – aerial photo". www.cambridgeairphotos.com.
  10. ISBN 9781465318664
    .
  11. ^ a b "Rural Settlement and Field Systems - Dictionary definition of Rural Settlement and Field Systems - Encyclopedia.com: FREE online dictionary". www.encyclopedia.com.
  12. ISBN 9781479779215
    .
  13. JSTOR 2591160
    .
  14. ^ "Networks for Life". www.askaboutireland.ie.
  15. ^ "The Archaeology of Ireland's Great Famine - NUI Galway". www.nuigalway.ie.
  16. ^ https://www.heritagecouncil.ie/content/files/historic_landscape_characterisation_guidance_2013_8mb.pdf[bare URL PDF]
  17. doi:10.11141/ia.47.2
    .
  18. ^ Hunter, John (2003). Field Systems in Essex. Essex Society for Archaeology and History.[page needed]
  19. ^ Rollason, Pam (June 2008). "Around the Rodings". Essex Life. Archant. p. 92. Retrieved 2009-02-03. (Registration required.)
  20. doi:10.1080/01433768.1997.10594491
    .
  21. ^ Muir, Richard (2002). The NEW Reading the Landscape. University of Exeter Press. p. 123.
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