# What are these marks on farmland where housing is about to be built? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 2, 2013, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-marks-on-farmland-where-housing-is-about-to-be-built/662483 "2013-07-02T21:23:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2013, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-marks-on-farmland-where-housing-is-about-to-be-built/662483/1 "2013-07-02T21:23:28Z")
Look [here on Google Maps](https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=flansham&hl=en&ll=50.79967,-0.643301&spn=0.004699,0.007628&sll=51.528642,-0.101599&sspn=0.588651,0.97641&t=h&hnear=Flansham,+West+Sussex,+United+Kingdom&z=17). The aerial view shows farmland, but as you can see from the map overlay, and from Street View, housing has been built on the land since the aerial view was captured. However, on the farmland is a series of straight lines, each about 40-50 yards long, that appear to have been scraped out. They mostly run at right angles to each other, but there are some at different angles, and they don’t seem to bear any relation to the road layout of the housing development. Any ideas what they could be? Exploratory groundworks? Why the weird pattern? ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2013, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-marks-on-farmland-where-housing-is-about-to-be-built/662483/2 "2013-07-02T23:12:48Z")
I have never seen anything like it in the U.S. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2013, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-marks-on-farmland-where-housing-is-about-to-be-built/662483/3 "2013-07-02T23:18:18Z")
Obviously, that land has been farmed so much it is becoming threadbare. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2013, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-marks-on-farmland-where-housing-is-about-to-be-built/662483/4 "2013-07-03T01:03:29Z")
Looking north on Flansham Lane you’ll see some sort of orchard/nursery/tree farm where the trees are planted in straight lines. Look to the east between the development and the golf course and you’ll see a field with two rows of trees and then the same markings. My guess is that those were rows of trees or shrubs that have recently been ripped out. No idea why they’re all at angles, though. ---
**Author:** ![ZenBeam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2013, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-marks-on-farmland-where-housing-is-about-to-be-built/662483/5 "2013-07-03T01:35:05Z")
> [@Colophon](#): > > Exploratory groundworks? That would be my guess. scrape a little across the land to know where solid soil is, and see if there are any surprises, covering the whole area. Take elevation readings to determine the final subdivision elevation and grading. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2013, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-marks-on-farmland-where-housing-is-about-to-be-built/662483/6 "2013-07-03T02:01:31Z")
Looks like they take their hoe lanes seriously in England. ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Downtown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Mr\_Downtown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Downtown)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2013, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-marks-on-farmland-where-housing-is-about-to-be-built/662483/7 "2013-07-03T04:25:26Z")
The marks are remnants of some kind of agricultural buildings, [as seen here.](https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=flansham&hl=en&ll=50.803574,-0.633519&spn=0.001592,0.003683&sll=51.528642,-0.101599&sspn=0.588651,0.97641&t=h&hnear=Flansham,+West+Sussex,+United+Kingdom&z=19) They’re long sheds flanked by a dozen or more small buildings. My best guess is chicken houses or something similar for swine or dairy cattle. Google Earth notes that the Google Maps imagery is from 2007. In the imagery on [Here.com](http://Here.com) and [Bing.com](http://Bing.com), the scars have all healed. ---
**Author:** ![Isilder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/cc9497/32.png) [@Isilder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isilder)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2013, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-marks-on-farmland-where-housing-is-about-to-be-built/662483/8 "2013-07-03T06:39:57Z")
> [@Mr\_Downtown](#): > > Google Earth notes that the Google Maps imagery is from 2007. In the imagery on [Here.com](http://Here.com) and [Bing.com](http://Bing.com), the scars have all healed. They are not the scars from buildings. Google earth can show older images, and the 2005 images shows neither the buildings nor the marks. They were just open fields. So the scars appeared between 2005 and 2007. Archeology. Its proved here. > **[North Felpham Archaeology - Excavations](https://www.lparchaeology.com/felpham/excavations)** 245 trenches were excavated !!! 245 archeological investigations looking for history, [http://www.biab.ac.uk/issues/90488](http://www.biab.ac.uk/issues/90488) ---
**Author:** ![RobDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f07891/32.png) [@RobDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RobDog)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2013, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-marks-on-farmland-where-housing-is-about-to-be-built/662483/9 "2013-07-03T06:56:57Z")
World’s crappiest crop circles. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2013, 10:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-marks-on-farmland-where-housing-is-about-to-be-built/662483/10 "2013-07-03T10:31:39Z")
> [@Isilder](#): > > Archeology. > > Its proved here. > > [North Felpham Archaeology - Excavations](http://www.lparchaeology.com/felpham/excavations) > 245 trenches were excavated !!! 245 archeological investigations looking for history, > [http://www.biab.ac.uk/issues/90488](http://www.biab.ac.uk/issues/90488) Well how about that. An actual answer. Lots of archaeological excavations before the builders moved in. Good sleuthing, **Isilder**. > [@](#): > > When the Site 6 area was originally proposed, an application was made to the Local Planning Authority for planning permission. As part of the planning application process, an archaeological evaluation was undertaken across the area to be developed. This involved digging trial trenches through the ploughsoil to see if any archaeological remains were present. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2013, 11:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-marks-on-farmland-where-housing-is-about-to-be-built/662483/11 "2013-07-03T11:24:01Z")
Yep, those herringbone patterns are characteristic of trial trenching. It’s so you don’t miss any linear features if you just do parallel trenches, but less intrusive than a full grid. ---
**Author:** ![Aro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b3f665/32.png) [@Aro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aro)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2013, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-marks-on-farmland-where-housing-is-about-to-be-built/662483/12 "2013-07-03T12:04:28Z")
> [@Isilder](#): > > 245 trenches were excavated !!! 245 archeological investigations looking for history… Might be worth mentioning for readers who are unaware, but archaeological investigations will normally form part of any significant planning application approval process or conditions, and especially so in the home counties and the south of England. Each council has different requirements to comply with, but any construction programme will inevitably include a chunk of time to allow investigations and digs to be undertaken prior to commencement. It can have quite an effect on a project if a significant find is made – it can hold up the development works for months, or even years, in some cases. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2013, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-marks-on-farmland-where-housing-is-about-to-be-built/662483/13 "2013-07-03T12:11:44Z")
I’ve seen exactly this pattern of lines in fields near my own home (Southern England) from the window of the train - for a couple of weeks, there were shallow trenches in this pattern (maybe 18 inches deep and four or five feet wide), then they were all filled in. Nothing has been planted there (the trenches were dug last year - even if they planted bulbs, they’d have shown themselves by now). Archaeological or geological survey trenches sounds a good explanation. ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2013, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-marks-on-farmland-where-housing-is-about-to-be-built/662483/14 "2013-07-03T13:23:50Z")
I wonder how often they find an unexploded German bomb. Or British or US bomb. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2013, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-marks-on-farmland-where-housing-is-about-to-be-built/662483/15 "2013-07-03T14:28:53Z")
> [@Hypno-Toad](#): > > I wonder how often they find an unexploded German bomb. Or British or US bomb. In London, it happens fairly regularly. I remember when they were building the [new pedestrian bridges](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hungerford_Bridge_and_Golden_Jubilee_Bridges) across from Waterloo station there were great concerns about UXBs buried in the Thames mud. If one had detonated it could have broken through to the Tube a few feet below and poured most of the river into the tunnel, which would have been rather inconvenient for commuters on the Bakerloo line. ---
**Author:** ![sco3tt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@sco3tt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sco3tt)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2013, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-marks-on-farmland-where-housing-is-about-to-be-built/662483/16 "2013-07-03T19:36:52Z")
> [@Isilder](#): > > Archeology. > > Its proved here. > > [North Felpham Archaeology - Excavations](http://www.lparchaeology.com/felpham/excavations) I’ve been bingeing on **[Time Team](https://www.youtube.com/user/rszaaijer/videos)** lately so I almost suggested this in jest. I was surprised to learn that’s really the reason. I guess I shouldn’t be though. If that show taught me anything it’s that you can’t so much as plant a flowerbed in the UK without a bunch of archaeologists showing up to make sure you’re not destroying something historically significant in the process. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2013, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-marks-on-farmland-where-housing-is-about-to-be-built/662483/17 "2013-07-03T20:16:41Z")
> [@Colophon](#): > > In London, it happens fairly regularly. I remember when they were building the [new pedestrian bridges](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hungerford_Bridge_and_Golden_Jubilee_Bridges) across from Waterloo station there were great concerns about UXBs buried in the Thames mud. If one had detonated it could have broken through to the Tube a few feet below and poured most of the river into the tunnel, which would have been rather inconvenient for commuters on the Bakerloo line. It’s certainly more of a concern in big cities than it would be in a bit of farmland - In Portsmouth, the Planning authority has a GIS layer showing all the known bomb raids (we sometimes get asked for a map showing all the unexploded bombs. If we knew where they were, they probably wouldn’t be there). ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Downtown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Mr\_Downtown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Downtown)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2013, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-marks-on-farmland-where-housing-is-about-to-be-built/662483/18 "2013-07-04T04:24:31Z")
I don’t doubt that most of them are archaeological excavations, but look at [the ones just north of the car park.](https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=flansham&hl=en&ll=50.801066,-0.646783&spn=0.003184,0.007365&sll=51.528642,-0.101599&sspn=0.588651,0.97641&t=h&hnear=Flansham,+West+Sussex,+United+Kingdom&z=18) You can clearly see little blobs attached to the sides, very much like [the agricultural buildings I pointed out.](http://api.viglink.com/api/click?format=go&key=ce270d38103a630c3181db372a25a052&loc=http%3A%2F%2Fboards.straightdope.com%2Fsdmb%2Fshowthread.php%3Ft%3D695427&v=1&libId=4f9da0f6-7d67-486a-b112-52b0d7602862&out=https%3A%2F%2Fmaps.google.co.uk%2Fmaps%3Fq%3Dflansham%26hl%3Den%26ll%3D50.803574%2C-0.633519%26spn%3D0.001592%2C0.003683%26sll%3D51.528642%2C-0.101599%26sspn%3D0.588651%2C0.97641%26t%3Dh%26hnear%3DFlansham%2C%2BWest%2BSussex%2C%2BUnited%2BKingdom%26z%3D19&ref=http%3A%2F%2Fboards.straightdope.com%2Fsdmb%2Fsearch.php%3Fsearchid%3D9769364%26pp%3D100%26page%3D3&title=What%20are%20these%20marks%20on%20farmland%20where%20housing%20is%20about%20to%20be%20built%3F%20-%20Straight%20Dope%20Message%20Board&txt=as%20seen%20here.&jsonp=vglnk_jsonp_13729115289466) What requires a long main building and all the little side huts? ---
**Author:** ![Isilder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/cc9497/32.png) [@Isilder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isilder)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2013, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-marks-on-farmland-where-housing-is-about-to-be-built/662483/19 "2013-07-04T05:12:28Z")
> [@Mr\_Downtown](#): > > You can clearly see little blobs attached to the sides, What requires a long main building and all the little side huts? Seems to be nothing more than where the tractor did the digging, where the spoil was put and where the tractor turned tight circles. ---
**Author:** ![the\_diego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@the\_diego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_diego)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2013, 7:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-marks-on-farmland-where-housing-is-about-to-be-built/662483/20 "2013-07-04T07:12:05Z")
The underlying soil is white chalk (like the Uffington White Horse). They appear both on the green fields and on the bulldozed areas (wider and more pronounced on the latter.) They may be just truck/bulldozer tracks which leaves white chalk residue from previous works (or disturbs the soil enough to also expose the underlying chalk.) Their regular lengths and bearings could mean ground survey works for foundation drilling and testing. In this, you have trucks dragging heavy drilling machines or seismic energy sources. Yes, that’s my best guess. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-marks-on-farmland-where-housing-is-about-to-be-built/662483.md?page=2)