Monument record MBC47740 - Medieval and/or post medieval ridge and furrow, Creslow parish.

Contiguous extensive medieval and/or post medieval ridge and furrow, plough headlands, furlong boundaries and 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 Aylesbury Vale Aerial Investigation and Mapping project (EBC18604). Creslow parish is situated on high ground in the centre of the county and is historically famous for the quality of its pasture land. Reputedly it one had the largest field in the country, called Creslow Great Ground, or Great Field, which accounts for a large part of the parish. About 300 acres in size and said to be the largest in England, this pasture field provided grazing for cattle which were then supplied to the royal dining tables of the English monarchy, owned by the crown from 1483 until 1635, when it was sold by Charles l into private hands. It was said that cattle would only need to go round it once before being fat for market. Located across Creslow parish and centred at SP 81557 22017, almost contiguous blocks of cultivation earthworks are set out on a general NNW-SSE alignment, with a few blocks oriented WSW-ENE. The ridge and furrow extend across almost all of the area known as Great Ground. Given the historically documented role of these 300 acres as cattle pasture for royal consumption from the late15th century to the mid-17th century, the origins of the ridge and furrow therefore either predates 1435, or was created for surface drainage for pastureland, as was also practiced in Warwickshire, Cheshire, and Derbyshire. This provided ridges as dry land for the cattle to stand and for spreading feed in wet weather. In the tillage of the open-fields' in Buckinghamshire, 'the height of the middle or crowns of the ridges ... are raised very often more than 2 feet above the level of the furrows between them' as a 'means of getting rid of water'. On aerial photographs taken in 2022 and recent remote sensing data, about half of the recorded ridge and furrow blocks remain extant earthworks, with the remaining half having been plough levelled (1-13).