A Midland Ridge-and-Furrow Map

attention from geographers and economic historians in Great Britain during the last twenty years. It has prompted and it continues to prompt enquiry into both origin and distribution. Its origins have been the cause of much controversy, though there is a fair measure of agreement that no single cause can explain them. Its distributional characteristics have received only limited attention. This short paper, focusing upon distributions, describes the compilation of a ridge-and-furrow map for a relatively extensive area of south central England. The contents of the paper fall into four parts ?the object of the exercise, the conduct of the exercise, the results of the exercise, and the exercise in its broader context. The object of the exercise.?While local, regional and national variations in the distribution of ridge-and-furrow have long excited the curiosity of topographers and the speculation of historians, the phenomenon has given rise to no large-scale syste? matic study. The object of this exercise has been to produce a picture of ridge-andfurrow distribution over a much broader area than has hitherto been attempted. It was expected that the map might provide additional evidence for confirming or modifying the ideas that prevail about the occurrence of the feature. A study of the map?and more particularly of its margins?would also suggest the most fruitful areas in which the survey might be continued. The exercise might, in the final place, encourage broader surveys with a view to producing eventually a national picture. It is appreciated that there are a number of ways in which increasing light can be shed upon the origin of ridge-and-furrow. Each calls for investigations appreciably different in character and in order of magnitude. The different forms of enquiry are eomplementary to each other and it is in this light that the distribution map has been prepared. The provision of a map cannot supply explanations; but it may be a step towards explanations. In this case, as in many others, it may be postulated that the study of origins is inseparable from the study of distributions. The conduct of the exercise.?The composite map presented as Figure i includes in their entirety the counties of Bedford, Buckingham, Oxford and Warwick; but excludes the Birmingham conurbation, Coventry, certain other urban areas and airfields. It shows the simplest possible features of the distributional pattern?those areas where ridge-and-furrow is detectable either on the ground or on air photographs from the period 1945-54. The map began with a survey of Buckinghamshire, published in the Geographical Journal in 1954, which was originally inspired by earlier work on Warwickshire by M. W. Beresford. Maps of Bedfordshire and Oxfordshire were prepared by M. J.