Day 53. Ridge and Furrow

       Ridge and furrow in the Little Churchground.

Today we shall move onto agricultural history and the way of life which wrote our landscape. We shall start with the distinctive ridge and furrow patterns, 'fossilised' in permanent grassland and the most obvious relic of a long-gone farming system.

Preston's farmland was once worked under a communal open-field system. It was divided into long, narrow strips called lands or selions, grouped together into units called furlongs. The lands were nominally a furlong [220 yards] long and ten yards wide, but could vary wildly.  Each farmer's lands, sometimes numbering a hundred or more, were scattered around the entirety of the open field so everyone had an equal share of good and poor ground. Each land is one ridge in present-day fields.

The division of Upper Shakersway Furlong, named after the adjoining road called Shakersway (see Day 15). The furlong ran below the E-wood between the Atherstone Hill road and the Atherstone boundary hedge. Twelve men shared approximately eighteen acres of ground.

                   Upper Shakersway Furlong today.

The ridge and furrow pattern is a result of ploughing each land individually. The soil was turned into the centre with each bout up and down, which left a ridge in the middle and empty furrows on the edges. With passing decades and centuries, the ridges and furrows grew ever more prominent. It is a common belief that the ridges were to aid drainage, but they can actually hold water on the field, especially if the lands run parallel to the slope.

When the reversible plough was invented in the 19^th century, ploughing could move progressively from one side of the field to the other, as seen today. When the plough returns down the field, it turns the soil the opposite way to fill the furrow just left. The old method of circling outwards from a central line was abandoned, and the ridges were gradually levelled.

Some lands have a reversed 'S'-shape, such as those pictured above. These are commonly found close to settlements and indicate an early date for first cultivation: they were originally ploughed by oxen. The earliest beast of burden wasn't particularly nimble, so turning the plough had to begin early. Straight lands have been ploughed only by horses, which replaced oxen from the 17^th century. 

The open-field system survived in Preston until the 1750s. Then arrived parliamentary commissioners to instigate a drastic upheaval for agriculture. We shall look at this tomorrow.