Ridge and furrow

The term ridge and furrow is used by archaeologists to describe the pattern of peaks and troughs created in a field from a system of ploughing used during the Middle Ages. Early examples date to the immediate post-Roman period and the method survived until the seventeenth century in some areas.

It was created as a result of the strip cultivation that was widely practised at the time whereby large fields were divided into long, narrow plots called furlongs. Each strip would be cultivated separately by different families who would turn the ploughed soil into the centre of their strip, creating raised ridges bounded by deep furrows. The turning of the plough at each end of the strip created the shape in plan of an elongated S-shape. In cases where cultivation ended or pastoral farming adopted, this rippled effect is still visible today in the landscape. As a result it is useful evidence of past land-use and can indicate the sites of Deserted Medieval Villages.

Some of the best preserved ridge and furrow survives in the southern Midlands of England in the counties of Oxfordshire and Warwickshire.

Related forms include rig and furrow, cord rig and run rig cultivation.