Open-field
villages
Nine out of ten people in the Middle Ages worked on the land. In Wales, Scotland, Ireland, and the north-west of England, the peasants (country people) kept sheep and cattle, and grew only a few crops. They lived on farms or in small hamlets. But in the Midlands and the east of England, the peasants tilled the land and lived in villages.
In the time of the Normans, a lot of English villages had two large open fields. The fields were divided into long, narrow strips. Each peasant would have some strips in one field, and some in the other.
Each year, the peasants grew crops in one of the two fields. All of them worked together to plough, sow the seed, and harrow the land to cover the seed with soil. When the wheat or barley or beans had grown, everyone joined in the work of harvest. Each man kept the crops which grew on his strips.
The other open field was left fallow. This meant that nothing but grass grew there. Animals were allowed to graze there, and their manure made the soil richer. The next year, the fallow field would be used to grow crops, and the first field would be left fallow.
As well as the open fields, each village had a meadow for hay. And there was some common land, where the peasants' sheep and cattle could graze. In the winter there was not enough food for the animals. So the peasants had to kill most of the animals in the autumn. They salted the meat to preserve it. They ate some, and sold the rest.
Walter Robson: Medieval Britain; Oxford University Press, 1991/2000, page 50 f.