Terms for “field”: GROUND (19 exx.); PIECE (6 exx.); PLOUGHING (4 exx.); FURLONG (or FARLAND, 3 exx.); SEEDS (3 exx.) FIELD I4 exx.); LEY (“fallow land or pasture”, Oxleys, Cowlease); WALK (Sheep); PASTURE (Cowpasture Hill); MEAD(OW) (28 exx.); CLOSE (10 exx.); SLIPE, PIKES, PICKLES, PLATT - see below;

Specification by Size: BIG and/or LITTLE Ground, Hanger, Hill, Meadow; The PICKLES or PLATT (“small plot”); 5, 7, 8, 10, 12, 30, 40 ACRES;

by Shape: LONG Meadow; BROAD Waters; The PILES and PICKET Field (pointed fields); Deep GORE Meadow (triangular); The SLIPE (thin); Tithe HOOKES (projecting);

by Directional Location: TOP and/or BOTTOM Ploughing, Seeds, Pikes, Landers; The FAR Field, Pasture; HOME Hill-FAR Hill (Curtis’s Farm), HOME Hill-MIDDLE Ground-LOWER Ground (Curtis), HOME Ground-MIDDLE Ground (Boughton’s), HOME Ground-MIDDLE Ground (Watbridge), FAR-MIDDLE-LOWER Ground (Foundains); CORNER Field, FRONT Field; (?) DEEP Gore Meadow;

Prepositional: (Watbridge) ROUND the Hill, Seeds ROUND the Road, ON TOP OF the Hill;

by Age: OLD Wears Meadow, Ploughing, NEW Ground, Meadow;

by Topography: HILL (8 exx.); BANKY Ground, Piece (remains of ridge and furrow ploughing); Braod WATERS; BROOK Mead; The WEARS (“pond”); Grassy DELL; Big, Little, Top HANGER (“wooded slope”); LANDERS (see 17th Century list);

by Fertility: FATTING Close;

by Soil Type: DRY Meadow;

by Crops: SEED, BEAN, OAT Piece; GRASSY Dell; GRASS Seeds; HEM (“hemp”) Close; WATbridge - see 17th Century list;

by Farm Animals: SHEEP Walks, Pen Farland,; HORSE Meadow; RAMS Close; OXleys; COOWlease; COWpasture Hill; CALVES Close; PID Close;

by other uses: DIRTY Ground (ding);

by Buildings: SHED Meadow (transferred from Dorton field); COWHOUSE Ground; DAIRY Ground; SHEEP PEN Farland;

by Roads and Ways: The ROAD Meadow; RAILWAY Meadow; TRAM Meadow;

by Vegetation: The TANSIES; BLUE BOTTLE (“cornflower”); The HANGERS (trees); LandHURST; ASHley Close; BUSHY Ground; Cuckoo PENS; COPSE Mead (?) TREE Hill;

by Wild Creatures: CUCKOO Pens; RATpot;

by Owners: WHEELER’S Close; (?) GREEN’S Hill; (?) ROBIN’S Hill; (?) RONINSES; PLESTED’S Ground; HAINES Hill; The HILLS (a shortening of STONEHILLS 18th C, named from the tenant, William Stonehill, 17th C); GULLEYS (see GOLLINS in 17th C list);

Unexplained: Barkham, Wilson Raids, Buff Lands, Bit Mead (Bytman’s 17th C Eckham (Necham 17th C).


Also See: 17th Century Field Name Etymology