Home » History » Ancient British History » Two Views of Farming in Ancient Britain

Two Views of Farming in Ancient Britain

© David White

This photo, taken in the Fen, Lincolnshire, shows us two distinct eras of farming. Both show up quite clearly, and yet both are quite different in form and were quite different in function as well.

The irregular patterns are more modern boundaries of farmland. The geometric patterns represent the boundaries of (of course) Roman farms. The Romans were famous for doing things their own way, and this evidence is further proof of that tendency.

You can even see the clear outlines of the boundaries of a Roman road, running from top to bottom on the right side of the photo. The road disappears underneath the modern house, but one gets the sense that the Romans wouldn't have put one of their buildings there anyway. More to the point, we can clearly see where a Roman villa did sit. Inside the red circle in this detail photo is the geometric boundary set of a Roman residence, clearly marked in straight lines and with a straight road running to it from the main Roman road.

One can just imagine the Roman master of the residence living in his villa, overseeing the farming of such a choice piece of land. The fact that he had his own road leading to his own home from the main road lends credence to the hypothesis that he was an important person and not just a common farmer.

All this stands in stark contrast to the squiggly lines of later farms evidence in the photo. In more modern times (and this is certainly true today), landowners must worry about things like other people's property and land and water rights. The Romans had none such worries, basking as they were in their role as conquerors of a new land.

This contrast in farming boundaries can also be seen in a different light, one of function for use. For the Romans, all that they saw existed for them to use. They built straight roads so the travel down them would be as quick as possible. They used the most efficient transportation and labor methods to facilitate this desire to be quick about it. Farmers who came after the Romans concentrated more on the need to take the land for what it was and adapt their needs to it. This was a significant change, not only in wording but in action and motivation. For the later farmers (and this is true today as well), the land was their ticket to meals and money. For the Romans, the land was a means to the end; for the later farmers, the land was the means and the end. The more the farmers cared for the land, the more the land gave in return.

The copyright of the article Two Views of Farming in Ancient Britain in Ancient British History is owned by . Permission to republish Two Views of Farming in Ancient Britain in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.