Summary

Part of a regular aggregate field system 440m north of Delcombe Farm.

Source: Historic England

Details

This record was the subject of a minor enhancement on 17 February 2016. This record has been generated from an "old county number" (OCN) scheduling record. These are monuments that were not reviewed under the Monuments Protection Programme and are some of our oldest designation records.

This monument includes part of an extensive regular aggregate field system situated on the steep south west facing dry valley slopes of Delcombe Bottom. The field system survives as a series of roughly rectangular fields terraced into the slope and is defined by pronounced lynchets standing from 2m up to 4m high. The fields also contain evidence of adaptive re-use during the medieval period. This field system lies entirely within the Grade II* Registered Park of Milton Abbey.

Source: Historic England

Reasons for Scheduling

Regular aggregate field systems date from the Bronze Age (2000-700 BC) to the end of the fifth century AD. They usually cover areas of up to 100ha and comprise a discrete block of fields orientated in roughly the same direction, with the field boundaries laid out along two axes set at right angles to one another. Individual fields generally fall within the 0.1ha-3.2ha range and can be square, rectangular, long and narrow, triangular or polygonal in shape. The field boundaries can take various forms (including drystone walls or reaves, orthostats, earth and rubble banks, pit alignments, ditches, fences and lynchets) and follow straight or sinuous courses. Component features common to most systems include entrances and trackways, and the settlements or farmsteads from which people utilised the fields over the years have been identified in some cases. These are usually situated close to or within the field system. The development of field systems is seen as a response to the competition for land which began during the later prehistoric period. The majority are thought to have been used mainly for crop production, evidenced by the common occurrence of lynchets resulting from frequent ploughing, although rotation may also have been practised in a mixed farming economy. Regular aggregate field systems occur widely and have been recorded in south western and south eastern England, East Anglia, Cheshire, Cumbria, Nottinghamshire, North and South Yorkshire and Durham. They represent a coherent economic unit often utilised for long periods of time and can thus provide important information about developments in agricultural practices in a particular location and broader patterns of social, cultural and environmental change over several centuries. The part of a regular aggregate field system 440m north of Delcombe Farm field system survives well and will contain archaeological and environmental evidence relating to its construction, development, longevity, social organisation, agricultural practices, adaptive re-use and overall landscape context.

Source: Historic England