Ridge and furrow
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The term ridge and furrow is often used by archaeologists and others to describe the pattern of peaks and troughs created in a field and caused by the system of ploughing used during the Middle Ages in Britain. Early examples date to the immediate post-Roman period and the method survived until the seventeenth century in some areas. This ploughing style is also found in Ireland.
The phenomenon was created as a result of the strip cultivation that was widely practised at the time whereby large fields were divided into long, narrow plots called furlongs. A furlong is 1/8th of a mile and is defined in British law as 201.168 metres. It is still found in horse racing today. It originally derived from the Old English words for a 'furrow length' and was then taken to mean a length of ploughing across an acre (4047 m²) of land and so its exact value would vary dependent on local constraints.
[edit] History
Each strip would be cultivated separately by different families who would turn the ploughed soil into the centre of their strip by the continued use of a non-reversing plough, creating over many years raised ridges bounded by deep furrows. The turning of the plough at each end of the strip created the shape in plan of an elongated reversed S-shape. This effect was not accidental; the raised beds offered better drainage and the trench could mark the boundary between plots. Modern ploughing regimes are more efficient and deeper cutting, removing these features but in cases where cultivation ended or livestock farming was adopted, this rippled effect is still visible today in the landscape. As a result, it is useful evidence of past land-use and can occasionally indicate the sites of deserted medieval villages.
[edit] Locations
Some of the best preserved ridge and furrow survives in the southern Midlands of England in the counties of:
The ridge and furrow can have a height difference of 18 to 24 inches (0.5 to 0.6 m) in places and give a strongly rippled effect to the fieldscape.
[edit] Related forms
- rig and furrow,
- lazy beds,
- cord rig and
- run rig cultivation.
- Lynchets create a similar effect but are created by gravity on hillslopes subject to ploughing.
- Steam ploughing ridge and furrow looks like the medieval version but the ridges are usually broader and are always straight.
