Landscape Detective

The emergence of villages and the open field system occurred in the early medieval period (11th century). This was a communal arrangement where three large fields were divided into strips, or selions. Ridge and furrow, which is still visible in the landscape, arose from driving a mouldboard plough, drawn by 8 oxen, in narrow lines as shown in the illustration below. They aided drainage and increased crop yields. The strips were owned by individual farmers, but not every one had an equal share. The greatest proportion would have been owned by the Lord of the Manor, while the peasant would have only had a few.

The strips, 220 yards long and 11 yards wide, were the length that an ox could pull a plough before it needed a rest. It was not only difficult to plough in straight lines, but also it took the teams of oxen a while to turn. Therefore they had to instigate the turn well before the end of the strip. This resulted in an S-shaped appearance to the selion and the creation of large headlands which still survive today fossilised in the hedgerows. Headlands, rarely ploughed, appear as broad grassy tracks still identifiable as they are higher than the surrounding area. Later ridge and furrow is straighter and narrower, because by the 13th century farmers were using plough horses. The aerial photograph below shows the remains of ridge and furrow surrounding a now deserted settlement at Gretton.