Medieval strip lynchets 280m west of Hill Barn

Scheduled area

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History & significance

Medieval strip lynchets 280m west of Hill Barn is a scheduled ancient monument consisting of a series of agricultural terraces formed by ploughing on sloping ground during the medieval period. The lynchets represent a distinctive farming practice whereby repeated ploughing along contours of the hillside created accumulated banks and terraced strips of cultivated land, a method widely employed in medieval England to maximise arable production on marginal terrain. The earthworks visible at this location preserve evidence of this labour-intensive system of agriculture, which would typically date from the high medieval period, roughly the eleventh to fifteenth centuries. Such features are important archaeological indicators of settlement patterns, land use, and the organisation of rural medieval communities in southern England.

Medieval strip lynchets 280m west of Hill Barn is a scheduled monument protected by Historic England under reference 1016902. View the official record →

Questions & answers

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