Ridge & Furrow, Ashby Canal
You can often see these ridges in fields as you chug along the canal in parts of the country. Ridge & Furrow is the name given to the system of communal farming in great open fields, which were probably laid out as early as the 6th to 8th centuries AD. Each farmer’s “yardland” consisted of many strips in different parts of the fields, so that, at least at first, each had a fair share of fertile, poor, boggy or well drained soil. The strips would have been ploughed by a team of oxen and the furrows beside the strips were good for drainage, and also helped to mark one strip from another, delineating ownership.
Medieval farmers sowed their seed by broadcasting or scattering it by hand, and then treading it in. The harvest was very limited, providing only a tiny fraction of what would be expected today, and a run of bad weather, or a season of poor seed could decimate these poor crops. As agricultural improvements began to create new possibilities, there was more discontent with this old system, until finally the open fields were enclosed by fences and hedges and came into private ownership.
At the same time that open fields became more common, the canals were being built, and these were the means by which grain from the Baltic and Europe could be brought into the Midlands. There was less demand for home grown grain. Thus enclosed pasture for meat production took over from the huge open arable fields. However, when Napoleon’s blockade led to a drop in imports to 5% of what had been coming in, there was a sudden need to provide more wheat for bread and, more importantly, barley for beer 😊 In some parishes the ridge and furrow was adjusted to be flatter for new grain growing; where this was successful it brought huge wealth to the farmers who could do this. In fact they sometimes incorporated the name “Gold” into their field names, giving an indication of how good their profits were.
Ridge & Furrow, Ashby Canal
You can often see these ridges in fields as you chug along the canal in parts of the country. Ridge & Furrow is the name given to the system of communal farming in great open fields, which were probably laid out as early as the 6th to 8th centuries AD. Each farmer’s “yardland” consisted of many strips in different parts of the fields, so that, at least at first, each had a fair share of fertile, poor, boggy or well drained soil. The strips would have been ploughed by a team of oxen and the furrows beside the strips were good for drainage, and also helped to mark one strip from another, delineating ownership.
Medieval farmers sowed their seed by broadcasting or scattering it by hand, and then treading it in. The harvest was very limited, providing only a tiny fraction of what would be expected today, and a run of bad weather, or a season of poor seed could decimate these poor crops. As agricultural improvements began to create new possibilities, there was more discontent with this old system, until finally the open fields were enclosed by fences and hedges and came into private ownership.
At the same time that open fields became more common, the canals were being built, and these were the means by which grain from the Baltic and Europe could be brought into the Midlands. There was less demand for home grown grain. Thus enclosed pasture for meat production took over from the huge open arable fields. However, when Napoleon’s blockade led to a drop in imports to 5% of what had been coming in, there was a sudden need to provide more wheat for bread and, more importantly, barley for beer 😊 In some parishes the ridge and furrow was adjusted to be flatter for new grain growing; where this was successful it brought huge wealth to the farmers who could do this. In fact they sometimes incorporated the name “Gold” into their field names, giving an indication of how good their profits were.