Monument record MBC47742 - Medieval and/or post medieval ridge and furrow, Whitchurch 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). Located across the east half of Whitchurch parish and centred at SP 84649 20369 are almost contiguous blocks of cultivation earthworks. Unusually, the ridges and furrows are set out on a mix of alignments, moving from a roughly SW-NE or SE-NW alignment to the west, to a more N-S/NNW-SSE alignment on the eastern edge of the parish. Also visible is a system of post-medieval drainage ditches overlaying some medieval ridge and furrow blocks near Beechmoor Farm. On aerial photographs taken in 2022 and recent remote sensing data, about two-thirds of the ridge and furrow earthworks visible as extant on aerial photographs taken in the 1940s remain visible as earthworks, with the remaining thirds having been plough levelled, either no longer visible or only visible as cropmarks (1-8).

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). Located across the southwest corner of Whitchurch parish, the ridge and furrow blocks are contiguous. Contained within this system are plough headlands and boundary ditches, as well as linear and sinuous sections of earthwork bank, likely being furlong boundaries. These earthwork furlong banks are part of a much more extensive system of land division boundaries that extends eastwards into Bedfordshire and East 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 broad and low earthworks on recent lidar remote sensing data, probably having been spread by post-war ploughing regimes. Whilst some of these linear banks respect the boundaries of the ridge and cultivation blocks, others pass through and apparently under the ridge and furrow, likely indicating former medieval cultivation boundaries that were subsequently readjusted. On aerial photographs taken in 2023 and recent remote sensing data, only about half the cultivation earthworks remain extant, the remainder having been levelled by post-war agricultural regimes (9-15).

Medieval and/or post medieval ridge and furrow cultivation, 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). Located across the northwest corner of Whitchurch parish, clustered blocks of the ridge and furrow cultivation are centred north and south of Whitchurch village. On aerial photographs taken in 2021 and recent remote sensing data, about two thirds percent of the earthwork cultivation blocks remain visible, the remainder having been plough levelled by post-war agricultural regimes (16-27).