Here's the first conundrum :
I noticed that many of the old field boundaries are curved in a sort of
backward-S shape. The only book I could find in the library says this is
characteristic of enclosed strips which were ploughed by oxen (If I read
things aright, that means any time up to about mid-18th century), but gives
no explanation beyond the suggestion that it made them easier to turn.
Well, with a single-bottom plough, that does'nt make sense to me, unless you
plough in one direction only. An acre is already an 11-mile walk - would
anyone willingly double that to 22 miles? The logical layout would be the
classic furrow long by stetch wide acre, although the land hereabouts is
relatively light, so you might well be able to plough more than an acre in a
day (Is it just coincidental that an acre is usually quoted as much as a
skilled man with a scythe could reap in a day? The field layouts for
Champion Country were probably set before the Black Death, when reaping was
done with a sickle)

--
May glorious Shamash make his face to shine upon you

Gilgamesh of Uruk
(Include Enkidu in the subject line to avoid the spam trap)
"Richard McDermott" wrote in message
...

"Gilgamesh" wrote in message
...
I've been looking at some old field maps (tithe maps) of this area,
which
have raised some questions about historical land use. Is this an
appropriate
NG to raise them on, or does anyone know any more appropriate places?

May glorious Shamash make his face to shine upon you

Gilgamesh of Uruk
(Include Enkidu in the subject line to avoid the spam trap)


Sounds interesting to me. I think history its very relevant to we farm our
ground.