Aerial photographs show extensive field system of broad ridge and furrow. (1)

Part of national monument number 29349 (North Charlton medieval village and open field system) scheduled on 21st August 1998. To the east of the village, and now separated from it by the A1 trunk road, are part of the medieval open fields which once surrounded the whole village. They survive in the form of a series of furlongs or fields, each containing well preserved ridge and furrow cultivation. (2)

A report of the RCHME fieldwork including the plan, profile and air photograph has been published. The ridge and furrow is irregular in plan and width and therefore likely to have been turned over to pasture in or before the 18th century. Several phases of ploughing are apparent. Where a narrow morainic ridge crosses the field it has been transformed in two separate places (NU 1714 2293 and NU 1705 2258) into a series of low transverse terraces and banks. The ridge is known as Comby Hills, describing the 'comb effect' of ploughing. They were produced by successive ploughing that cut through subsoil, spreading material to the east and west and creating low lynchets. The crests of intervening banks probably represent the original land surface, which in places stand 2m above the former strips. Comby Hills is a continuation and an integral part of the ridge and furrow system. (3)

NU 1722 2300. Camp (NR). (4a)

The three large fields on the East and South of North Charlton are called 'The Fatting Pasture', 'The Comb Hills', and 'The Stone Close'. In the former field, rows of stones are placed quadrangularly on the high ground as a form of defence. A ridge runs south-westerly into the middle field where stones have been collected and placed in transverse ridges. One of them was removed, and only rubbish was found. (4b)

Near-circular enclosure with single rampart 1/4 acre in area. (4c)

A series of banks (? the rows of stones) and terraces formed by rig and furrow ploughing over a glacial ridge, associated with the shrunken village of North Charlton (NU 12 SE 4). Nothing resembling Hogg's enclosure found. (4d)

Centred at NU 171 228, and occupying an area of about 35 hectares in permanent pasture, are the extensive and well preserved remains of ridge and furrow, which is associated with the medieval village of North Charlton (see NU 12 SE 4), now largely overlain by modern settlement. This area represents only a part of the medieval field system, most of which is ploughed out; the remains are clearly visible on an air photograph of 1983 (5a). Ground inspection and air photograph examination confirm authority 4's intrepretation that the alleged 'camp' or enclosure at NU 1722 2300 (authorities 1 and 3) is a fortuitous arrangement of the ridge and furrow; there is no evidence of any earthworks pre-dating the medieval fields.

In September 1988 RCHME surveyed at 1:500 scale about 1.5 hectares of an unusual arrangement of ridge and furrow centred at NU 1705 2258 at the SW edge of the surviving medieval field system where it crosses a narrow morainic ridge, running N-S, known as Comby Hills. Successive strip ploughing has cut down through the friable subsoil of the ridge depositing material to the E and W down the slopes of the ridge. Between the strips, instead of furrows, are banks, up to 2.0m high, which probably represent the original land surface prior to ploughing; these have been supplemented in some places by stones cleared from the fields. This curious reversal of the usual form of ridge and furrow also occurs at NU 1714 293 (not surveyed). Full information, including a plan and report, is available in the NMR archive. (4e)