Monument record MBC44960 - Medieval and/or post medieval ridge and furrow cultivation, Water Stratford parish

Medieval and/or post medieval ridge and furrow cultivation blocks, remnants of the former common open-field system, is visible on historic aerial photographs and remote sensing data as earthworks and was mapped as part of the North Buckinghamshire Aerial Investigation and Mapping project (EBC18304). Located on the west border of Water Stratford parish and centred at SP 64696 35407, most of the blocks are aligned mostly between NW-SE and WNW-ESE, with a few aligned SSW-NNE. Almost all the ridge and furrow cultivation blocks are visible as extant earthworks on aerial photographs taken in the 1940s, but aerial photographs taken in 2019 and recent remote sensing data indicate that almost all the cultivation blocks have been plough-levelled due to post-war agricultural changes and intensification. The linear earthwork furlong banks are part of a much more extensive system of land division boundaries that extends eastwards through Bedfordshire and beyond into Cambridgeshire. Whilst many of these features originate in the medieval period with the establishment of the common field cultivation system, some of the boundary banks may have earlier origins. They remain visible chiefly as extant, sinuous, parallel, plough-levelled earthwork sections on recent lidar remote sensing data. Whilst one of the linear banks respects the boundary of a mapped ridge and cultivation block, the other passes through extant ridge and furrow, possibly indicating former medieval cultivation boundaries that were subsequently readjusted (1-4).

Contiguous medieval and/or post medieval ridge and furrow cultivation, plough headlands and furlong boundaries, remnants of the former common open-field system, is visible on historic aerial photographs and remote sensing data as earthworks and was mapped as part of the North Buckinghamshire Aerial Investigation and Mapping project (EBC18304). Located across the eastern half of Water Stratford parish and centred at SP 65453 35637, most of the ridge and furrow cultivation blocks are visible as extant earthworks on aerial photographs taken in the 1940s, but aerial photographs taken in 2019 and recent remote sensing data indicate that about three quarters of the mapped blocks have since been plough-levelled due to changes to post-war agricultural regimes, with most remaining blocks surviving as earthworks in fields around Water Stratford village, Ashmore Farm and Grounds Farm. The sections of linear earthwork furlong banks are part of a much more extensive system of land division boundaries that extends eastwards through Bedfordshire and beyond into Cambridgeshire. Whilst many of these features originate in the medieval period with the establishment of the common field cultivation system, some of the boundary banks may have earlier origins. They remain visible chiefly as extant, sinuous, parallel, plough-levelled earthwork sections on recent lidar remote sensing data (5-14).