Studies of Field Systems in the British Isles
Studies of Field Systems in the British Isles

Author: Alan R. H. Baker

Publisher: CUP Archive

Published: 1973-07-19

Total Pages: 738

ISBN-13: 9780521201216

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An enormous amount of research into British field systems has been undertaken by historical geographers, economic historians and others since H. L. Gray's classic work on English Field Systems was published. This book both synthesizes and advances our knowledge of field systems in the British Isles.

Field Systems and Farming Systems in Late Medieval England
Field Systems and Farming Systems in Late Medieval England

Author: Bruce M.S. Campbell

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2023-05-31

Total Pages: 332

ISBN-13: 1000944433

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The later Middle Ages was an overwhelmingly rural world, with probably three out of four households reliant upon farming for a living. Yet conventional accounts of the period rarely do justice to the variety of ways in which the land was managed and worked. The thirteen essays collected in this volume draw upon the abundant documentary evidence of the period to explore that diversity. In the process they engage with the issue of classification - without which effective generalisation is impossible - and offer a series of solutions to that particularly thorny methodological challenge. Only through systematic and objective classification is it possible to differentiate between and map different field systems, husbandry types, and land-use categories. That, in turn, makes it possible to consider and evaluate the relative roles of soils and topography, institutional structures, and commercialised market demand in shaping farm enterprise both during the period of mounting population before the Black Death and the long era of demographic decline that followed it. What emerges is an agrarian world more commercialised, differentiated, and complex than is usually appreciated, whose institutional and agronomic contours shaped the course of agricultural development for centuries to come.

The Open Fields of England
The Open Fields of England

Author: David Hall

Publisher: OUP Oxford

Published: 2014-06-19

Total Pages: 396

ISBN-13: 0191007463

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The Open Fields of England describes the open-field system of agriculture that operated in Medieval England before the establishment of present-day farms surrounded by hedges or walls. The volume encompasses a wide range of primary data not previously assembled, to which are added the results of new research based upon a fifty-year study of open-field remains and their related documents. The whole of England is examined, describing eight different kinds of field-system that have been identified, and relating them to their associated land-use and settlement. Details of field structure are explained, such as the demesne, the lord's land, and the tenants' holdings, as well as tenurial arrangements and farming methods. Previous explanations of open-field origins and possible antecedents to medieval fields are discussed. Various types of archaeological and historical evidence relating to Saxon-period settlements and fields are presented, followed by the development of a new theory to explain the lay-out and planned nature of many field systems found in the central belt of England. Of particular interest is the Gazetteer, which is organized by historic counties. Each county has a summary of its fields, including tabulated data and sources for future research, touching on the demesne, yardland size, work-service, assarts, and physical remains of ridge and furrow. The Gazetteer acts as a national hand-list of field systems, opening the subject up to further research and essential to scholars of medieval agriculture.

Field Systems and Farming Systems in Late Medieval England
Field Systems and Farming Systems in Late Medieval England

Author: B. M. S. Campbell

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2008

Total Pages: 352

ISBN-13:

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A majority of households on later Middle Ages relied upon farming for a living. Yet conventional accounts of the period rarely do justice to the variety of ways in which the land was managed and worked. The thirteen essays collected in this volume draw upon the abundant documentary evidence of the period to explore that diversity. In the process they engage with the issue of classification - without which effective generalisation is impossible - and offer a series of solutions to that particularly thorny methodological challenge. What emerges is an agrarian world more commercialised, differentiated, and complex than is usually appreciated, whose institutional and agronomic contours shaped the course of agricultural development for centuries to come.