Field Systems Introductions to Heritage Assets Summary Historic England’s Introductions to Heritage Assets (IHAs) are accessible, authoritative, illustrated summaries of what we know about specific types of archaeological site, building, landscape or marine asset. Typically they deal with subjects which have previously lacked such a published summary, either because the literature is dauntingly voluminous, or alternatively where little has been written. Most often it is the latter, and many IHAs bring understanding of site or building types which are neglected or little understood. This IHA provides an introduction to field systems. They represent a physical manifestation of farming, both animal husbandry and cultivation, from its prehistoric origins to the present day and the earliest examples may be identified from patterns of boundaries preserved in or buried beneath the modern landscape. Descriptions of Prehistoric, Roman Period, Medieval and Post-Medieval field systems include discussions of what different patterns mean in terms of land use, land division and administration and agricultural technology. Associations of early fields with round barrows; barrow cemeteries; linear boundaries; hillforts; settlements and enclosures are also discussed as are associations between medieval open fields and contemporary settlements and related agricultural structures such as hollow ways and barns. A list of in-depth sources on the topic is suggested for further reading. This document has been prepared by David McOmish and edited by Joe Flatman and Pete Herring. It is one of a series of 41 documents. This edition published by Historic England October 2018. All images © Historic England unless otherwise stated. Please refer to this document as: Historic England 2018 Field Systems: Introductions to Heritage Assets. Historic England. Swindon HistoricEngland.org.uk/ listing/selection-criteria/scheduling-selection/ihas-archaeology/ Front cover The Medieval field system on Haystack Hill, Northumberland © Tim Gates Introduction Field systems are ubiquitous features of the British countryside. They represent a physical manifestation of farming, both animal husbandry and cultivation, from its prehistoric origins to the present day and the earliest examples may be identified from patterns of boundaries preserved in or buried beneath the modern landscape. Later field systems, medieval or post-medieval modifications. They are also intimately connected in date, may be more visible, and often remain with a wide range of settlement forms, and like in use in complete or modified forms. Even the the settlements themselves, subject to changes most seemingly modern field-systems may retain through time which provide complicated layers of many elements inherited from the past. Reading archaeological evidence. such landscapes can be a complicated business, even using modern archaeological tools such as Only where there is excellent preservation, such aerial photography and with the aid of old maps as on Salisbury Plain, is it possible to see one and other historic documents, since field systems layout clearly superimposed upon another (Figure exhibit an immense variety of forms depending 1). The very ubiquity and extent of prehistoric and on their age, purpose and the extent of later historic field systems creates issues in terms of land management and designation. Field systems currently have a predominantly rural distribution but have undoubtedly been present in many other areas, perhaps destroyed by urban expansion, or submerged beneath later soil movement in river valleys. Different forms of field system vary dramatically in outline and extent, depending on geographical location, the nature of farming in a given area and the duration and development of related settlements. They are, inevitably, associated with a wide range of other archaeological features and monuments. Figure 1 Coaxial field systems, Salisbury Plain Training Area, Wiltshire. Two partly superimposed prehistoric coaxial field layouts. 1 1 History of Research The antiquity of various field systems has long Recent work, both landscape studies and been recognised. Notably, early antiquarians such detailed archaeological fieldwork has refined as William Stukeley (1776) and Richard Colt Hoare our knowledge of early field systems and in the (1810) observed, for example, that fields under- case of their extent and range in central and lay Roman sites. The form and extent of early field northern England, completely transformed our systems were discussed by H Toms in 1911 but understanding. OGS Crawford and, independently, EC Curwen first characterised prehistoric field systems in 1923 and coined the term ‘Celtic’. As a result, small ‘gridded’ ancient fields were differentiated from later ‘Saxon’ elongated strip fields, cultivation terraces and ridge-and-furrow. 2 2 Description Prehistoric and Roman period fields may well be earlier still in a number of places (Figure 2). It must not be assumed that all prehistoric fields were cultivated for arable crops. Charred In some cases, as at South Lodge, Wiltshire, field grain, cereal pollen and quern stones found systems appear well organised and structured; on contemporary settlement sites shows that in others more irregular accreted patterns many were, but others were built to contain predominate as at Plumpton Plain, East Sussex livestock, and even those which were ploughed (Figure 3). In southern England these early field may have lain fallow, or returned to pasture, for layouts are often found in association with periods of time. settlements dating to approximately 1500 BC, frequently underlying them, and there are hints The earliest and most difficult field systems of a similar stratigraphical relationship with to characterise are unenclosed fields of a small number of Early Bronze Age sites in prehistoric date, but as a class of fields they are Northumberland. intimately related to cairnfields. Cairnfields – scattered heaps of stones and boulders – are These field systems cover small extents – perhaps generally found in upland settings and result a few hectares at most – and the field plots are from surface clearance in advance of, or as a similarly small, sometimes only 600 sq m in result of, agricultural activities. Although the area with straight and curving edges visible. It is majority of cairnfields cover fairly discrete areas, difficult to isolate the full extent of these fields larger spreads covering several hectares are as they are often incorporated into later systems not uncommon. but these early layouts contrast markedly with Often these early unenclosed fields, the earliest generally dating from the second millennium BC, are only now represented as areas of colluvium (deposits of soil displaced by ploughing) sealed beneath later structures. Occasionally, where preservation is good, as in the Peak District, irregular features related to early agriculture are apparent alongside the unenclosed elements, including low terraces, clearance cairns, and short flights of lynchets (cultivation terraces), although these often do not form an obviously coherent pattern. In the Northumberland Cheviots, cord rig, that is, narrow linear cultivation ridges 1-1.5m in width, set within unenclosed, rectilinear plots Figure 2 up to around 0.5ha, is frequently associated with Cord rig cultivation, Carshope Hill, Northumberland. Prehistoric ridged cultivation. settlements of the early 1st millennium BC and 3 Figure 3 Bronze Age settlement, Plumpton Plain, East Sussex. Irregular fields and settlement at Plumpton Plain. the broadly contemporary reave systems found Many prehistoric field systems are regular, almost across the moorland of south-west England grid-like, in their layout. Described as ‘cohesive’, (Figure 4). These comprise parallel-sided plots ‘brickwork’ or ‘coaxial’ field systems, they are defined by stone-topped banks, strip-like in their found throughout England and are characterised layout and consistency, some with perpendicular by uniformly small, conjoined, square/rectangular, sub-divisions of later date. Often the boundaries field plots and an adherence to a particular axial of these systems are fringed by more substantial symmetry, i.e. the field system develops along field divisions, terminal reaves, functioning in a particular dominant axis or at right angles to the same manner – to define the outer bounds of it (Figure 5). On occasion, and strikingly, the the system, and perhaps to exclude stock grazing axial geometry is adhered to regardless of the on the rough land beyond – as head dykes in underlying topography. medieval and post-medieval fieldscapes. The size of individual field plot varies The reave system is best seen on the middle considerably, with some as small as 400 sq m in and lower ground of Dartmoor but there are area (i.e. 20m by 20m): the largest can exceed similar sorts of field systems on moorlands 5000 sq m in size but there is much regional elsewhere. They can extend across significant variation; on the chalklands of central southern areas, sometimes as large as 200 ha, and where England, for example, the majority of fields excavated, have produced dates ranging from enclose between 0.2 and 0.6 ha, whereas in north between 1300 BC and 1100 BC. Pollen diagrams Nottinghamshire and south Yorkshire they enclose indicate that some continued in use as pasture between 0.5 and 2.8 ha. The size differential is into the first millennium BC. due to longevity of cultivation and dominant land use – the longer the field