The organisation of fields and fences in agriculture that emerged during the Middle Ages and the early modern period was a complex system that combined individual ownership of and communal practices in arable land, meadows and pastures. It was adapted for small and mid-size family-based farming and was a different way to organise agriculture than the medieval estates (demesnes) and the larger coherent fields of the eighteenth century and onwards. The past decade of research in historical geography and economic history has highlighted the origin of this system, which is often referred to as the open-field system; it was open in the sense that it promoted communal farming of primarily arable land. This pre-modern farming system was, however, in many areas a physically closed landscape – a landscape where fences stood out as significant elements. This article investigates the use of fences in a part of early modern western Sweden. The empirical base is a reconstruction of fence-organisations from detailed large-scale maps dating from the mid-seventeenth century. Using historical maps, this study focuses on the collaboration and interaction among farms and settlements. We argue that the open-field system cannot be fully understood without regard to an in-depth analysis of the fences and the institutions holding the complex collaboration together. The occurrence or absence of fences in relation to open-fields involves several questions: What are the characteristics of the fences in the farming systems known as open-field? What can be said about the spatial distributions and connections between the settlements sharing the same open-field? Can agrarian landscapes where fences were prominent elements be considered open-field? The results show that fences appear to be a key factor in understanding settlement patterns and open-fields in Scandinavian regions. A large number of fences created small fenced open-fields. Moreover, the divisions of the arable plots had less importance in the creation of open-fields, which included arable land, meadows and pastures. Instead, cross-settlement collaborations and arrangements are central for the open-fields in the study region. The regional differences within the open-field system provide an understanding of the preconditions and organisation of mixed farming, which combined small-scale arable land cultivation and large-scale pastures.

中世纪和近代早期出现的农业领域和围栏组织是一个复杂的系统，结合了耕地、草地和牧场的个人所有权和公共实践。它适用于以家庭为基础的中小型农业，是一种不同于中世纪庄园（私有）和 18 世纪及以后更大的连贯土地的农业组织方式。过去十年的历史地理和经济史研究突出了这一系统的起源，通常被称为开放领域系统；它是开放的，因为它促进了主要可耕地的集体耕作。然而，这种前现代农业系统在许多地区是一个物理上封闭的景观——栅栏作为重要元素脱颖而出的景观。本文调查了现代早期瑞典西部部分地区围栏的使用情况。经验基础是根据 17 世纪中叶的详细大比例尺地图重建栅栏组织。本研究使用历史地图，重点关注农场和定居点之间的协作和互动。我们认为，如果不深入分析围栏和将复杂协作结合在一起的机构，就无法完全理解开放领域系统。与开阔场地相关的围栏的存在或不存在涉及几个问题：被称为露天的农业系统中的围栏有什么特点？共享同一空地的聚落之间的空间分布和联系如何？栅栏是突出元素的农业景观可以被视为开阔地吗？结果表明，围栏似乎是了解斯堪的纳维亚地区定居模式和开阔地的关键因素。大量的围栏形成了小的围栏空地。此外，耕地的划分在开阔地（包括耕地、草地和牧场）的创造中不太重要。相反，跨定居点的合作和安排是研究区域开放领域的核心。