Monument record MBC47854 - Ridge and furrow field systems in the parish of Weston Turville

Ridge and furrow field systems with drainage ditches, plough headlands and furlong boundaries, of medieval and post medieval date are visible on historic aerial photographs and remote sensing data as extant earthworks, cropmarks and levelled earthworks and were mapped as part of the Aylesbury Vale Aerial Investigation and Mapping project (EBC18604). Located within the parish of Weston Turville and centred at SP 85320 11748. Ridge and furrow field systems were mapped across the whole of the parish but not contiguously although what was mapped suggests that coverage was probably contiguous. Earthworks remain in discrete patches across the parish. They are visible close to the modern extent of the village of Weston Turville, close to the site of the motte and bailey and shrunken settlement there, and also along the north side of the Roman road from Aylesbury around the double moated site south of Broughton although part of this has recently been lost to housing development. A group of fields on the southern edge of Aylesbury, at SP 484619 212133 shows a succession of plough headlands, cut through by later drainage ditches, where the area of ridge and furrow has been extended in the past. Earthworks also remain in small patches where later fields have been reorganised in to larger and more regular shaped fields to allow for easier access for farm machinery, leaving irregular patches along watercourses or within woodland; for example next to the reservoir constructed for the Grand Union Canal. Land use in the 1940s already included areas of ploughed arable fields so levelling of earthworks had been happening since before that time. Plough headlands or furlong boundaries can be seen as very low earthworks only on lidar visualisations in areas where ridge and furrow earthworks could not be clearly identified from modern land use on photographs or lidar visualisations, showing that it is very likely that ridge and furrow field systems did extend further than what has been mapped as part of this project. (1-37)