Ridge and Furrow - Curved Strips

Curved Strips

When ploughing was done with large teams of small oxen— the standard unit in Anglo-Saxon and medieval England was of eight, in four yokes — the team and plough together were many yards long, and this led to a particular effect in ridge and furrow fields. When reaching the end of the furrow, the leading oxen met the end first, and were turned left along the headland, while the plough continued as long as possible in the furrow (the strongest oxen were yoked at the back, and could pull the plough on their own for this short distance). By the time the plough eventually reached the end, the oxen were lined up facing leftwards along the headland. Each pair was then turned around to walk rightwards along the headland, crossing the end of the strip, and they then started down the opposite furrow. By the time the plough reached the beginning of the furrow, the oxen were already lined up ready to pull it forwards.

The result of this was to twist the end of each furrow slightly to the left, making these earlier ridge and furrows into a slight reverse-S shape. This shape survives in some places as curved field boundaries, even where the ridge and furrow pattern itself has vanished.

If the oxen had been turned right at the end of the furrow, they would immediately have had to turn right again down the returning furrow, making the line of oxen cut across the top of the ploughed strip and thus pulling the plough out of the ground before it reached the end of the furrow. Alternatively, if lined up rightwards along the headland, some would already be past the beginning of the new furrow, and these would have to be moved awkwardly sideways into the furrow to be ready to plough. Turning to the left made one turn at a time and avoided a sideways move.

As oxen became bigger and ploughs more efficient, smaller teams were needed. These took less room on the headland, and straight ploughing became easier – and easier still when heavy horses were used. Later ridge and furrow is therefore straight.