Celtic Field Systems

Celtic fields were small, square plots of land whose size and shape were often attributed to the fact that they would have been worked by one family. The term ‘Celtic field’ was coined by archaeologist O.G.S Crawford. He came across the distinctive patchwork pattern while examining photographs, taken by the Royal Air Force, of the Salisbury Plain area of Britain. Excavation of these areas revealed that they had been inhabited and worked as farmland since the early Bronze Age.