Reasons for Designation
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. Those which survive well and/or which can be positively linked to
associated settlements are considered to merit protection.
Although some of the earthwork boundaries are not visible, the field
system on Troutsdale Moor, 470m north west of Rock House Farm, is in a
good state of preservation. Significant information about the form and
development of the field layout will survive. Valuable evidence for the
type of agriculture practised and the contemporary environment and economy
will survive in the lower ditch fills. Evidence for earlier land use will
also survive beneath the field banks. The field system is embedded in peat
deposits with some areas which are waterlogged and so it will contain a
wider range of environmental evidence than can be found on drier sites.
The field system is among only a very few such monuments on the eastern
Tabular Hills to survive with upstanding earthworks and it will,
therefore, preserve a range of evidence which the many plough-flattened
examples have now lost. It lies close to another field system and a number
of prehistoric burial monuments. Associated groups of monuments such as
these offer important scope for the study of the distribution of human
activity across the landscape during the prehistoric period.
Details
The monument includes a regular aggregate field system which is situated
on level ground at the top of a steep slope overlooking Troutsdale. It
lies on the central plateau of the Tabular Hills.
The field system is visible as a series of small sub-rectangular
enclosures, which are laid out roughly on two perpendicular axes, oriented
approximately ENE to WSW and NNW to SSE. At least 12 fields have been
identified and these measure 40m-65m in length and 20m-40m in width. The
fields are defined by shallow ditches and low earthen banks which survive
up to 0.5m wide. The ditches are no more than 0.3m deep and the banks no
more than 0.2m high, except at the western edge of the field system where
there is a larger bank and ditch. This bank is 1.5m wide and stands up to
0.3m high, and the ditch on its western side is 1m wide and 0.5m deep. At
the northern end of this bank there is a pond which is surrounded by a
bank of similar dimensions. Over the years, the field system has become
embedded in peat deposits which have developed on the surface of the moor
and this has resulted in the earthworks being poorly defined and difficult
to distinguish amongst the vegetation, although they are clearly visible
on aerial photographs. The field system lies close to another similar
field system in an area which also includes many prehistoric burial
monuments as well as further remains of prehistoric land division.
MAP EXTRACT
The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract.
