Monument record 9935/0/8 - Medieval and/or post-medieval ridge and furrow cultivation, Silverstone parish

Medieval and/or post-medieval ridge and furrow cultivation is visible on historic aerial photographs and remote sensing data as earthworks and cropmarks and was mapped as part of Historic England’s North Buckinghamshire Aerial Investigation and Mapping project.

{} Medieval and/or post-medieval ridge and furrow cultivation is visible on historic aerial photographs and remote sensing data as earthworks and cropmarks and was mapped as part of Historic England’s North Buckinghamshire Aerial Investigation and Mapping project. Located along the southern border of Silverstone parish and centred at SP 66334 42936, the near absence of ridge and furrow in this part of the project are reflects the widespread woodland cover of the medieval hunting forest of Whittlewood, which was still visible on the 1814 Ordnance Surveyors Drawing, but much of which had been felled and cleared for agriculture by the 1st edition OS maps in the early 1880s.The cluster of contiguous ridge and furrow blocks between Silverstone village and Hazelborough Lodge reflects the old field system depicted on the 1814 map. The blocks are aligned mostly N-S, with only a few blocks aligned W-E. Almost all the ridge and furrow cultivation blocks are visible as extant earthworks on aerial photographs taken in the 1940s, except for cropmarks of the few scattered blocks on the former RAF airfield at Silverstone that have since been covered by the racing circuit. Aerial photographs taken in 2019 and recent remote sensing data indicate that many blocks have now been plough-levelled due to changes to post-war agricultural regimes.

<1> Ordnance Survey Map (Scale/date), 2"/1814 (Map). SNN112944.

<2> Ordnance Survey Map (Scale/date), 1:2,500/1884 (Map). SNN112944.

<3> Vertical Aerial Photograph, US-7PH-GP-LOC201 PORT 13053 06-MAR-1944 (Aerial Photograph(s)). SNN112695.

<4> Vertical Aerial Photograph, US-7PH-GP-LOC201 STBD 12054 06-MAR-1944 (Aerial Photograph(s)). SNN112695.

<5> Royal Air Force, Vertical Aerial Photography, RAF-3G-TUD-UK-86 RV 6046 26-MAR-1946 (Photographs). SNN104890.

<6> Environment Agency, LIDAR Composite DTM - 1m, LIDAR SP64SE dated 2019 SP6642 (Digital Plots). SNN111710.

<7> Vertical Aerial Photograph, Next Perspectives APGB Imagery 14-SEP-2019 SP6742 (Aerial Photograph(s)). SNN112695.

Record last edited

Feb 25 2025 7:37PM