The Landscape of Fareham

Fields Defined by Rights of Way

These fields are irregular in pattern and shape, their boundaries being defined by public footpaths, bridleways and roads or other tracks and paths that are not rights of way. The pattern almost entirely lacks other internal boundaries dividing the fields into smaller enclosures, and this is their chief distinguishing characteristic. Occasional boundaries may be straight or wavy. They mostly lack the remnant boundary features characteristic of prairie fields and the density of tracks and roads suggests that they derive from the enclosure of downland by the simple expedient of using the numerous downland tracks as boundaries. They seem to date mainly from the 18th and early 19th centuries. A version of this type of pattern was also found to occur on the coastal plain, which may reflect a rather different origin, possibly market gardening.

For maps showing rights of way please follow this external link: Hampshire County Council Rights of Way Maps Online (this is an external hyperlink).