Monument record MBC43989 - Ridge and furrow and plough headlands in the parish of Nash

Ridge and furrow, drainage ditches, plough headlands, a furlong boundary and boundaries of medieval and post medieval date are visible on historic aerial photographs and remote sensing data as earthworks, levelled earthworks, cropmarks and soilmarks and were mapped as part of the North Buckinghamshire Aerial Investigation and Mapping project (EBC18304). Located within and throughout the parish of Nash and centred at SP 77733 34163. These field systems cover the majority of the parish of Nash in an almost continuous area with gaps only for the areas of settlement of the village of Nash and Wood End, and also on areas where the underlying geology is different, such as areas of alluvium, or where photographs or lidar visualisations do not show any evidence for this survey. One such area (centred at SP 78879 33866, approximately 500m to the north of College Wood) has a field name recorded as ‘the ploughing’ but no evidence of ridge and furrow visible. Modern land use on Google Earth appear to show some rough grazing usage. An area of ridge and furrow at Barnhill Farm, Whaddon, is covered by a 4x4/quad bike/off road vehicle track and has suffered damage because of this. Although the ridge and furrow earthworks are still visible the course of the tracks taken by vehicles is clear. Areas of woodland shown on historic mapping (Nichols Wood) are still visible in the field boundaries and ridge and furrow parcels where the earthworks/cropmarks are post medieval (straight and likely steam ploughed) in character. The changes made in when the parish (when it was part of Whaddon) was inclosed in 1830 can be seen when compared with the direction of the earthworks mapped. (1-29)