Pilley is mentioned in the Domesday Book as a small settlement with little associated cultivated land. This is a former area of piecemeal enclosure of land which may have been part of the open medieval fields. The enclosures were quite regular so may have been enclosed late. There has been considerable boundary loss since 1855 leaving fragmentary legibility of the enclosed fields. A mineral railway ran through this polygon in the 19th century which further disturbed the pattern of the fields.