The four characterisation criteria apply to regular aggregate field systems as follows:
- Period (currency): Long-lived. Regular aggregate field systems were constructed and used during a period extending from the early second millennium BC until the mid-first millennium AD. The evidence suggests that individual field systems were maintained for up to 500 years. The fields around Rookery Hill in Sussex, for example, were ploughed throughout the pre-Roman Iron Age and Romano-British periods, while the range of dates for Gwithian extend between the fifteenth and eleventh centuries bc.
- Rarity: Common. It is estimated that between 750 and 1000 regular aggregate field systems have been recorded to date. Concentrations in the distribution pattern usually occur in areas marginal to Medieval and modern cultivation, although an increasing number of systems are being identified in lowland contexts.
- Diversity (form): Low. Two definable types have been identified within the regular aggregate class of field system. This incorporates a variety of field shapes, sizes and boundary forms. Field dimensions were not used to form further sub-divisions since a wide variety of ground plans enclosing areas of different size occur within the same system.
- Period (representativity): Medium. The score for this criterion represents an average for the lifespan of the class as a whole, due to the long period over which regular aggregate field systems were constructed.
Assigning scores to these criteria following the system set out in the Monument Evaluation Manual, regular aggregate field systems yield a Class Importance Value of 25. This lies just under mid-way up the range of possible values (max. = 64). Sites chosen for preservation should include examples belonging to types 1 and 2 located in a range of regional, topographical, and geological situations.