Medieval ridge and furrow at Field View, Castledon Road, Downham (EHER 80774)

The resistivity survey indicated the presence of ridge and furrow, and possible field boundary and ditch.

October 2020. Resistivity survey. The resistivity survey indicated the presence of ridge and furrow, and possible field boundary and ditch. The suggestion of ridge and furrow perhaps indicates that the eastern part of the site was given over at some period (probably medieval) to arable farming with subsequent reversion to grassland. Buried ridge and furrow is a common feature detected by resistivity surveys across rural sites in Essex. The possible presence of the ridge and furrow also suggests something as regards the long-standing maintenance of the watercourse as a field boundary. Across the site the survey has not registered any evidence of masonry or stone structures, routeways or areas of hard-standing consistent with settlement in the past. Neither has it identified any evidence of ditched enclosures such as substantial networks of ditches, routeways and platforms which elsewhere serve as evidence of settlement in antiquity. <1>