Monument record MBC44963 - Medieval and/or post medieval ridge and furrow cultivation, Twyford parish

A contiguous swathe of 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 along with western edge of Twyford parish and centred at SP 464916 226633, the ridge and furrow blocks are aligned either NNE-SSW or WNW-ESE. The ridge and furrow cultivation blocks are visible as earthworks or plough-levelled earthworks on aerial photographs taken in the 1940s. Aerial photographs taken in 2019 and recent remote sensing data indicate that only a few blocks of the mapped earthworks have been plough-levelled by intensive post-war agricultural practices, the majority remaining upstanding (1-3).

Almost contiguous medieval and/or post medieval ridge and furrow cultivation and furlong boundary banks, 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 Twyford parish and centred at SP 66242 26056, 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 about two-thirds of the mapped blocks have since been plough-levelled due to changes to post-war agricultural regimes. The ridge and furrows of these cultivation blocks are aligned mostly between WSW-ENE or NNE-SSW, with only a few blocks aligned in other directions. 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. Whilst some of the linear banks respect the boundaries of the mapped ridge and cultivation blocks, others pass through the extant ridge and furrow, possibly indicating former medieval cultivation boundaries that were subsequently readjusted ( 4-15).