The interdict furrows

England lay under the Pope’s interdict from March 1208 until 1214, and it was long remembered in country tradition. Old furrows seen on commons, moors and mountainsides were explained by a legend that King John’s subjects believed the curse fell only on land already under the plough. So they left their old fields idle and ploughed the commons and waste instead, and the furrows were said to be the marks of that time. Chambers noted that antiquaries thought them more likely Roman.