Ostensibly there's not much to see at Sootfield Green. Basically a house on the road between Preston and Charlton in Hertfordshire. But it's marked on the OS map and is an ancient crossroads where the tarmacked road intersects with two lanes that are still muddy tracks.  

 Place names tell a story."Green" appears in so many place names in England. It might denote a village that has (or had) a green. Or it may convey another historical meaning: specifically, an area that was cleared within a woodland. Sootfield Green is now surrounded by large open fields. No doubt this whole stretch of countryside was once wooded. Some pockets of that extensive tree canopy still remain, for example Wain Wood is near here.

 The right fork as seen above also has a name that tells a story: Dead Woman's Lane. Evocative but it seems no-one really knows who she was or when she died. Directly behind me as I took this photo is Tatmore Hills Lane that was once called Wayley Green Lane. A local historian Philip Wray has written extensively on the history of the locality. He notes that "Almost a thousand years ago, Welie was a small community of around sixty souls near Preston". 

 He also quotes a reference from 1636 to "Sutefeild Green" and refers to a map of 1822 which shows Sutfield Wood close by, now a field. I had wondered if Sootfield might be connected to a practice such as charcoal burning but he states that -sut meant south in Old English.