Smithy Wood

NJ81NW 43 centred 8490 1682

(Location cited as NJ 849 168). Some 10ha of excellently preserved rig and furrow, up to 1.3m high, running for a maximum of 300m N-S over summit of hill.

I Shepherd 1979

Poorly preserved within woodland and under field clearance, 6m average rig width.

P Yeoman 1987.

(Location cited as NJ 8490 1682). Rig-and-furrow cultivation survives in an exceptionally good state of preservation over the summit of a hill in an area of rough woodland at an altitude of between 90 and 105m OD. Most of the rigs run N-S and they are up to 300m long and 1.3m high, while measuring 6m between crests (in the N and centre) and 9m (in the SW).

NMRS, MS/712/77 (visited 7 March 1979).

An extensive area of rig-and-furrow is visible in Smithy Wood, a plantation that stretches southwards from the B977 public road, extending up the N flank of a low ridge over the summit and down the S flank to a point about 90m N of Cowstones farmsteading (NJ81NW 175). The rigs measure up to 10m in breadth and are aligned N and S. They must extend into the fields surrounding the wood, but there they have been ploughed flat.

Visited by RCAHMS (JRS, IF) 21 March 1996.