Fragmentary remains of a probable 13th- to 15th-century croft at Oldlands Farm, Bognor Regis, West Sussex

The ecclesiastical ‘grain factories’ of the Sussex Coastal Plain made the area one of the most valuable arable districts in all of medieval England. Despite this fact, study of the origins and adaptation of the area’s field systems has been relatively neglected. Excavations at Oldlands Farm, Bognor Regis allowed the archaeological exploration of a large portion of field system operated by the manor of Lidsey. What emerged was a distinctive model, unlike the nucleated open field communities of areas such as the Midlands. This study offers a rare analysis of a medieval field system on the Sussex Coastal Plain. It shows how furlongs were enclosed at an early date creating a settlement pattern of dispersed peasant crofts set within large and advanced areas of cultivated land