DetectingWales.com

Attached is a Photo I took on Wednesday 12 May 2010 and this thread is intended to make fellow members ask themselves about the fields they detect in and perhaps recognise field shapes and help you with hunting for new fields in the future. Feel free to tell me what you see in the photograph and This time next week I will give a description and if it is OK with the Admin team I will give a Really good book on Landscape recognition as a Prize at the next DW rally if any body gives the correct info and why they are good fields..

wow...those sheep look like ants down there mate !

the fields furthest away seem to be surrounded by a circular hedgerow that could have been a defence moat / earthworks....at the top of the field are cropmarks which could have been a fort with natural defences behind it in the shape of a high hill.....byron

i would go most prob go near  the field top right, right in front of three houses i think they are anyways looks like theres a old part of the village there plenty of sheep or rocks there too

Me personally, I would detect close to the field boundaries which are the most conspicuous in the photo, as these are quite old, hence the number of different types of trees that are growing in them.

From experience detecting close to old field boundaries have produced Hammered coins for me.


ORDOVIC

I would ask myself why I was being stalked by Batman...

Byron well done for spotting the curving feature, but that is not the reason why the fields are interesting. The curving feature is the remnants of a hollow way that would have once been a way for getting from A to B. This is part of the interest.. Ordovic is also partly right in that the field boundaries have an age to them but this again is only part of the story. Two guesses that are pieces of the jigsaw but some more pieces to find ladies and gents. Well done though and Techony that is not Batman it is a water butt for the sheep drinker.  ;D

The way the land is devided into fields, a more modern farm land the fields would have a more orderly shape to them.
And the one field looks like it has foundations under the surface.

I have managed to enlarge the photo as I was unable to do so last time

The Farm at the bottom right looks like it has a cross road next to it (Correct me if I am wrong) if so the fields either side of it would be worth detecting,also the field to the left of it has two straight features on it they could be old water courses or it,s. something modern like a water pipeline.

One very noticeable thing is the main road in the photo,could it be a Roman road?


ORDOVIC

Again Ordovic and Robot Rob are sort of on the fringes of the answer. Any more guesses folks. Will give a full rundown on the weekend.

I'm dying to know the answer of this one, I've always been fascinated with how people can read fields. 

Really good question WBM  :)

Top centre field, right of arch shaped treesand right of burnt out section, in front of 3 or 4 houses . There seems to be remains of small village, it would also be on higher ground away from posiible water way (river)?

Interested to know the answer.

Well here's my two penneth worth,

The location in general has the necessary water source for habitation and is on what seems to be a major route, the main road though is new.

X. the curvilinear feature hear could be a pre Roman settlement enclosure.
X. the fields with a L shape are the remains of older field boundaries, possibly Medieval strip fields, but too large for a celtic field system.
X. the rectilinear feature here could be the bank of a Roman fortlet, which also begs the question, was there a settlement (hill fort) on the top of the hill before quarrying started making this a police station of sorts as found at Danebury, Dolebury and Ham hill etc.
X. the coming together of at least 5 routes asks whether this is an accident of geography or if this was a destination of some worth.

What happened?

Right here we go I won,t bore you with mumbo jumbo. A few members sort of fringed on things and did spot that some of the field boundaries are old. The main feature are these field boundaries and how they are laid out in that the long regular spaced boundaries marked out with red lines are basically Bronze Age Reave boundaries one of the earliest type of land division in the UK. The high ground around is littered with barrows and the other side of the hill with the Quarry is the Walton Basin one of the largest Neolithic / Bronze Age Landscapes in Britain. The Yellow line is the Old Hollow way from Medieval settlement of Harpton to the Medieval settlement Of Gladestry, both in the Doomsday book. We know this route is later than the fields as it can be seen to cut through the field banks. The purple and Orange lines are the Tramway and Old Railway line and date to the early 1800,s. These can be seen to be later than the fields as well. The green lines show the medieval common or strip fields on a slightly different alignment but more important they can be seen to again cut through the field boundaries of the reaves and are the regulation size of medieval strip fields. The blue line down the centre is the stream and the dark red lines are boundaries that are later and are impossible to date without further investigation. X marks the spot of earthworks that have remained undated as no investigation has been carried out on them but local folklore is that it was the site of a church but there is no documentary evidence yet for this. The last piece of interest to the sight was really hard to spot but it is the picture title Burlingjobb. This is an Old English(Saxon Period) name and is a most unusual name for Wales. So basically these are the remains of some of the oldest fields you will see in Wales that as of yet have produced a few Roman Grots and not a lot else. But we shall persevere.

OK, now my understanding on coaxial field system is that they were generally marked by stones or stone walls. as the boundaries on the photo only touch current field boundaries in about half a dozen places what physical evidence is there that they are boundaries ?

It,s only the boundaries that are old Chef they are replanted time and time again through time. A few bits of dry stone wall do exist on the upper slopes of the hill with the Quarry and as the fields are permanent pasture the earthwork remains are still visible. I have given you another picture from a few miles away at Monkland where the Roman Road can be seen to cut through an earlier co axial field system. This alignment can be traced to this site at Burlingjobb and the book with the work we have done will be published when we can secure financing.

That was a very interesting read Walt (Paul)..... thank you for posting it. :)
I will be looking forward to see some more posts from you regarding the topic.


ORDOVIC

I got to say WBM you know your onions fella , Brecon and DW are very lucky to have you on board, you're an absolute asset.

I said ASSET!  ;)

Yea I only have 1 farm,   A few years ago the scan club had a rally organised for a sunday,    meeting at my local pub car park,  (where you pick me up Taff),  The rally was only on my one and only farm,   needless to say I went on the farm then took a shortcut back to my house  10 Min's walk.  I was gutted. :D
Kiwi Terry