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247:) removed the ridge and furrow pattern. However, in some cases the land became grassland, and where this has not been ploughed since, the pattern has often been preserved. Surviving ridge and furrow may have a height difference of 18 to 24 in (0.5 to 0.6 m) in places, and gives a strongly rippled effect to the landscape. When in active use, the height difference was even more, over 6 feet (1.8 m) in places.
268:(commonly eight oxen in four pairs), and the plough itself was a large, mainly wooden implement. The team and plough together were therefore many yards long, and this led to a particular effect in ridge and furrow fields. When reaching the end of the furrow, the leading oxen met the end first, and were turned left along the headland, while the plough continued as long as possible in the furrow (the strongest oxen were
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having potential difficulty from two adjacent lines of oxen moving in opposite directions. Alternatively, if lined up rightwards along the headland, some would already be past the beginning of the new furrow, and these would have to be moved awkwardly sideways into the furrow to be ready to plough. Turning to the left made one turn at a time and avoided a sideways move.
182:(the short end of the strip), then put back in the ground to work back down the other long side of the strip. The width of the ploughed strip is fairly narrow, to avoid having to drag the plough too far across the headland. This process has the effect of moving the soil in each half of the strip one furrow's-width towards the centre line each time the field is ploughed.
194:, and was sometimes done before ploughing began. The raised ridges offered better drainage in a wet climate: moisture drained into the furrows, and since the ridges were laid down a slope, in a sloping field water would collect in a ditch at the bottom. Only on some well-drained soils were the fields left flat. In damper soil towards the base of the ridge, pulses (
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If the oxen had been turned right at the end of the furrow, they would immediately have had to turn right again down the returning furrow, making the line of oxen cut across the top of the ploughed strip and thus pulling the plough out of the ground before it reached the end of the furrow, as well as
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period and the system was used until the 17th century in some areas, as long as the open field system survived. Surviving ridge and furrow topography is found in Great
Britain, Ireland and elsewhere in Europe. The surviving ridges are parallel, ranging from 3 to 22 yards (3 to 20 m) apart and
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In the Middle Ages each strip was managed by one family, within large open fields held in common, and the locations of the strips were the same each year. The movement of soil year after year gradually built the centre of each strip up into a ridge, leaving a dip, or "furrow" between each ridge
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at the back, and could draw the plough on their own for this short distance). By the time the plough eventually reached the end, the oxen were standing lined up facing leftwards along the headland. Each pair was then turned around to walk rightwards along the headland, crossing the end of the
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Ridge and furrow topography was a result of ploughing with non-reversible ploughs on the same strip of land each year. It is visible on land that was ploughed in the Middle Ages, but which has not been ploughed since then. No actively ploughed ridge and furrow survives.
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The result of this was to twist the end of each furrow slightly to the left, making these earlier ridge and furrows into a slight reverse-S shape. This shape survives in some places as curved field boundaries, even where the ridge and furrow pattern itself has vanished.
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in the 15th century and has not been ploughed out since by modern ploughing methods, today surviving still as pasture and grazing for sheep where the effect is clearly visible, especially when the sun is low or after a dusting of snow. It is often associated with
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Ploughing with a single-sided plough in a ploughing match, showing furrows heaped towards centre of strip (The different strips will eventually meet). This is not yet ridge and furrow, as the strip has only been ploughed once in this
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strip, and they then started down the opposite furrow. By the time the plough itself reached the beginning of the furrow, the oxen were already lined up ready to pull it forwards.
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As oxen became larger and ploughs more efficient, smaller teams were needed. These took less room on the headland, and straight ploughing became easier – and easier still when
174:. This means that the plough cannot return along the same line for the next furrow. Instead, ploughing is done in a clockwise direction around a long rectangular strip (a
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444:, grassland with ridges and dips to control irrigation – superficially similar to ridge and furrow, but the origin, pattern and use were very different
178:). After ploughing one of the long sides of the strip, the plough is removed from the ground at the end of the field, moved across the unploughed
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186:(this use of "furrow" is different from that for the small furrow left by each pass of the plough). The building up of a ridge was called
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236:(a "furrow-long") in length, (220 yards, about 200 metres), and from about 5 yards (4.6 m) up to a
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The dip often marked the boundary between plots. Although they varied, strips would traditionally be a
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up to 24 inches (61 cm) tall – they were much taller when in use. Older examples are often curved.
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Ridge and furrow often survives on higher ground where the arable land was subsequently turned over to
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wide (22 yards, about 20 metres), giving an area of from 0.25 to 1 acre (0.1 to 0.4 ha).
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422:, sloping terraces on steep hillsides, created by gravity on hillslopes subject to ploughing
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438:, Scottish and Irish land-use patterns named after their characteristic ridges and furrows
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In most places ploughing continued over the centuries, and later methods (especially the
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In
Scotland, 4-600 acres of rig and furrow survive in one area outside the town of
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564:. Vol. 10. London: English dialect Society by Trubner & Co. p. 18.
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were introduced. Late Middle Ages ridge and furrow is therefore straight.
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In the early Middle Ages ploughing was done with large teams of small
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Some of the best-preserved ridge and furrow survives in the
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Tusser, Thomas (1878). W.Payne; Sidney J. Heritage (eds.).
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Examples of ridge and furrow in photos on geograph.org.uk
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118:, mostly in the North East of England and in Scotland.
583:David Hall, "Medieval fields in their many forms",
548:, 2nd ed. 1991: "The Skills of Husbandmen" pp44ff.
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121:The earliest examples date to the immediate post-
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141:, in assessing the work of the plougher and in
416:, cultivation ridges created by spade digging
410:, cultivation ridges created by spade digging
16:Archaeological pattern of ridges and troughs
546:English Villagers of the Thirteenth Century
300:Rig and furrow at Roughrig reservoir, near
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604:Ridge and Furrow Survey (King's Norton)
561:FIUE HUNDRED POINTES OF GOOD HUSBANDRIE
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494:"Breamish Valley Archaeology Project"
94:) and troughs created by a system of
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663:Video footage of ridge and furrow.
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214:would have become waterlogged, as
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172:turn the soil over to the right
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402:Similar agricultural landforms
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162:Traditional ploughs have the
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516:"RIG AND FURROW | Canmore"
468:Archaeology of East Oxford
396:deserted medieval villages
302:Airdrie, North Lanarkshire
202:) or dredge (a mixture of
98:used in Europe during the
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224:Where water doth stand.
678:History of agriculture
608:. Riverreatrail.org.uk
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210:) might be sown where
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106:. It is also known as
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683:Archaeology in Europe
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228:below in that redge.
170:on the right, and so
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68:Ridge and Furrow, in
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602:"George Demidowicz,
426:Raised bed gardening
53:Ridge and furrow in
38:Ridge and furrow in
23:Ridge and furrow in
585:British Archaeology
474:on 19 February 2014
292:Surviving locations
226:Sow pease or dredge
222:For wheat till land
86:pattern of ridges (
464:"Ridge and Furrow"
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688:Landscape history
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104:open-field system
102:, typical of the
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478:17 November
367:Oxfordshire
304:in Scotland
168:mould-board
164:ploughshare
145:in autumn.
139:landholding
100:Middle Ages
25:Cold Newton
672:Categories
640:2019-04-30
612:2019-04-30
525:2017-01-20
500:2 February
449:References
391:sheep walk
332:Derbyshire
116:and furrow
70:East Leake
414:Lazy beds
192:gathering
158:location.
96:ploughing
420:Lynchets
408:Cord rig
180:headland
570:3285632
436:rundale
432:Run rig
384:Airdrie
234:furlong
188:filling
143:reaping
92:sliones
55:Grendon
568:
208:barley
149:Origin
82:is an
635:(PDF)
270:yoked
238:chain
212:wheat
200:beans
135:lands
123:Roman
566:OCLC
502:2015
480:2013
434:and
312:of:
266:oxen
206:and
204:oats
196:peas
176:land
166:and
112:rigg
110:(or
198:or
190:or
108:rig
674::
621:^
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587:,
544:,
534:^
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114:)
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Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
