EARLY HISTORY OF TWO AND THREE FIELDS 63 



disclose there manifest certain questionable features, and will 

 best be discussed in a later chapter which treats of the field 

 system of the Border.^ In Durham we are on secure ground, 

 although the evidence is relatively late. The survey of Ingleton, 

 which has already been quoted to illustrate the three-field system, ^ 

 is one of a series, several members of which are similar to it. All 

 the townships thus described lie in the southern part of the county 

 in the flat region which stretches from Durham to the Tees. The 

 episcopal city thus becomes the northern outpost of the three- 

 field system. 



In Yorkshire, the East Riding and much of the North Riding 

 furnish evidence of the existence of two- or three-field townships. 

 The West Riding is more chary in this respect, for in the moun- 

 tainous western part the system cannot be discerned. 



Keeping to the east, the boundary of two- and three-field tillage 

 follows the coast until, on reaching Boston, it turns inland to 

 exclude the fen country. Parts of the counties of Lincoln, North- 

 ampton, Huntingdon, and Cambridge (the Isle of Ely) now fall 

 outside of it, though by far the larger part of each county re- 

 mains within it. From southeastern Cambridgeshire the line 

 turns sharply to the southwest, follows the hills which separate 

 Hertfordshire from Bedfordshire, passes on along the ridges of 

 the Chilterns through southern Buckinghamshire and Oxford- 

 shire, crosses Berkshire east of Reading, keeps near the eastern 

 boundary of Hampshire, until, on reaching the South Downs, it 

 follows them eastward into Sussex as they stretch on to lose 

 themselves in the Channel at Beachy Head. All the south- 

 eastern counties from Norfolk to Surrey, together with a large 

 part of Sussex, are thus excluded. 



The western boundary of the two- and three-field area begins 

 in western Dorsetshire, passes north across Somerset including 

 two- thirds of that county, crosses by the forest of Dean into 

 Herefordshire, embraces most of this county and its neighbor 

 Shropshire, passes northeast through Staffordshire and Derby- 

 shire into Yorkshire, where it cuts off the western edge of the 

 county as it continues to Durham. Three areas are excluded 



* Cf. below, pp. 210 sq. * Cf. p. 36, above. 



