MEM25659 - Medieval field system south of South Greenslade Farm (Monument)

A series of likely medieval strip fields were identified following the assessment of LiDAR during a nearby forestry consultation. The field boundaries demarcating the strip fields are clearly visible as a series of relatively straight diagonal shallow banks which extend from c. north north east to south south west across four adjoining later parcels. The largest of these is c. 5m in width, and extends c. 220m and bisects the modern field parcel, joining up to a relict horizontal bank which does not align with the modern field boundary. This southern area is much disturbed by later roadways leading to the lakeshore, and the eastern fringe of the system has been submerged beneath Wimbleball Lake. The indvidual strips themselves measure, from west to east, 32m, 30m, 24m, 35m, 32m, 29m, 83m, 71m, 56m, and 36m. The larger strips may be the result of boundaries not surviving clearly giving the impression of double width strips. If these are divided in half, the relative consistency in width is striking between the strips, with an average width of 29 metres. [1] The area formed part of the parish of Brompton Regis, recorded in the Domesday Book as the King's Manor at Bruneton, at which point it was owned by Gytha, mother of Harold Godwinson and measured 10 hides. [2]