North Devon Coast AONB Braunton's Great Field truly lives up to its name. It is treasured as one of only two surviving medieval open strip field systems in England and is believed to date way back the 1200s. Here you can walk through a medieval landscape; covering an area of around 350 acres (equivalent to 200 football pitches). Such fields were the norm in medieval England but virtually all have since been lost or modified.
History This huge field would have been used by hundreds of landworkers, busily farming the food they needed to support their families. The land was farmed in narrow strips, most comprising of 22 yards (one chain) by one furlong (220 yards) in length, which interestingly makes an acre, which it was said was the amount an Oxen could plough in a day. Clusters of strips were given field names such as Gallowell, Pitlands, Longhedgelands, etc.
In 1840 it was recorded that the Great Field was divided into some 600 strips in 60 different ownerships. Today the land is worked by just a small number of farmers but clues to the field's ancient heritage are easy to spot. Although some of the distinct landsherds (small mounds of earth separating the strips) have been lost through modern farming methods together with the Bond Stones which marked division in ownership, many landsherds and the furlough boundary tracks still remain in place.
https://www.northdevon-aonb.org.uk/explore/braunton-great-field
Photo by David Smith https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/4722793
DCC Historic Environment Heading south west along Second Field Lane, it is striking how the landscape suddenly opens out on entering the heart of the Great Field. The winding high hedgebanks so characteristic of many parts of rural Devon were never created here, allowing unrestricted views right across to the distinctive formations of Braunton Burrows, which separate the Great Field from the sea.
This exceptionally rare medieval landscape is one of only three open strip fields operating on any scale in England. Much of the farmed landscape once consisted of these large areas of several hundred acres, divided into hundreds of unenclosed strips of land, with farmers holding strips in a number of the different furlongs surrounding the village.
Documentary evidence suggests that Braunton Great Field was divided into strips by 1202, and the divisions could date back as far as AD855. The current names of the furlongs at Braunton are instantly recognisable in a fourteenth century document recording land bequeathed to Eleanor, wife of Ralph de Gorges in 1324. Amongst other land, she received 1 acre at ‘La Crofta’, two acres at ‘Myddelforlong’, and half an acre at ‘Longeland’ – names (if not spellings) still in use today.
Some strips retain their medieval dimensions: a quarter acre is 5-6m wide and half acre 11-12m wide (the latter are more numerous). The survival of both names and the open field farming system itself is remarkable, although comparison of modern maps with the 1841 Tithe Map shows significant amalgamation of strips since the nineteenth century. The decline in the number of strips is pronounced: there were 448 strips in 1841, owned by 45 people, but by 1994 only 86 strips remained, farmed by just 10-11 people.
Surrounding and probably contemporary with the Great Field is the Great Hedge, which may have served to protect the land from spring tides (it lies on the limit of the high water mark). Within this boundary, the field is divided into named furlongs, and parts of the public rights of way are sited along the medieval headlands of the stripfields. ‘Landshares’ (unploughed turf balks) separate the strips, and these are extremely rare survivals of the medieval open field farming system. ‘Bondstones’ (large pebbles) marking the ends of rows can also be spotted.
To appreciate the layout of the separately farmed strips and furlongs, a climb up West Hill is rewarded by a good view of the Great Field.
https://www.devon.gov.uk/historicenvironment/explore-devons-heritage/braunton-great-field/
Heritage Gateway Historic England, 29/07/2015, Braunton Great Field, Braunton, North Devon, Devon (Correspondence). SDV358850.
The Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport has decided not to add Braunton Great Field to the Schedule of Monuments.
After examining all the records and other relevant information and having carefully considered the claims to significance of this case, the criteria for scheduling are not fulfilled.
REASONS FOR DESIGNATION DECISION
Braunton Great Field, although of clear landscape importance, is a much altered example of a medieval open field system and is not recommended for scheduling for the following principal reasons:
* Survival: the vast majority of the medieval strip fields have now been lost, whilst none of the baulks and headlands, having been reworked in modern land use, are believed to survive in their original form;
* Alteration: the amalgamation of the majority of the field strips has significantly eroded both the original field pattern and the medieval system of strip farming;
* Potential: given the effects of ploughing, the consolidation of strips and the loss of individual features, its potential to yield nationally important archaeological information is considered to be low;
* Management considerations: scheduling would not be effective in maintaining the continuation of medieval system of strip farming in the small number of fields that still retain their original dimensions.
https://www.heritagegateway.org.uk/Gateway/Results_Single.aspx?uid=MDV199&resourceID=104
DCC Environment Viewer Braunton Great Field from the RAF aerial survey of 1946-1949
Information on Devon's environment has been mapped on our Environment Viewer. These maps give access to spatial (geographic) data for Devon on a wide range of topics.
Tithe Map The tithe maps and apportionments are an important source of information about the history and topography of a parish. They provide details of land ownership and occupation, and the type of cultivation of the land, and are often the earliest complete maps of parishes.
https://www.devon.gov.uk/historicenvironment/tithe-map/braunton-1/ (Burrows, marsh, Great Field, and Saunton)