open field system
[De]
Agricultural arrangements by which land was managed by common agreement by a local community. The arable land of a township or parish was divided into a multitude of small strips, each of perhaps half an acre or less. Each tenant's strips were scattered and lay intermixed with those of others. For convenience, open field strips were aggregated into groups known as furlongs, themselves grouped into fields. From late medieval times a good deal of piecemeal consolidation of holdings took place, to provide fewer but larger pieces of land. The more landholders there were, however, the more difficult it was to arrange. Crop rotation, pasturing of animals, and other matters of common interest were decided by the local landholders at the manor courts. See also ridge and furrow.
