Monument Type(s):

• CROSS DYKE (Early Bronze Age to Late Iron Age - 2600 BC? to 43 AD?)

Summary

Scheduled Monument: A good example of a type of linear earthwork, found running across upland ridges and spurs, which is believed to represent the remains of territorial boundaries and/or fortifications of mid-late Bronze Age origin (often re-used in later periods).

Related records

Associated Finds: None recorded

Associated Events

• ESA4509 - Undated field observation
• ESA4510 - 1972 field observation by the Ordnance Survey
• ESA4785 - 1992-2000 Summary Condition Survey of SAMs in the Shropshire Hills Environmentally Sensitive Area by English Heritage

Description

Cross ridge dyke 60m long and comprises a bank 7m wide and 0.6m high, with a ditch on the NE side, 4m wide and 0.5m deep. The work extends to the edge of very steep natural slopes at both ends.. OS FI 1972 <1>
Considered by Guilbert to be part of a stock enclosure system which includes SA 186, SA 187 and SA 188 <1c>

(?LBA) cross-ridge dyke extends, for 60.0m from SO40349754 to SO40379750, and comprises a rampart, 7.0m in width, 0.6m in height, with a ditch on the NE side, 4.0m in width and 0.5m in depth. The work extends to the edge of very steep natural slopes at both ends in typical BA cross-dyke fashion. Surveyed at 1:2500.
No other earthworks were noted in the area. <1d>

Evaluated for MPP in 1990-1, as one of less than 10 Cross-Dykes <9>

Scheduled in 1994. The monument includes a cross-dyke situated on a narrow north east to south west orientated spur between Stitt Hill and Ratlinghope Hill. The cross-dyke cuts at right angles across the spur to separate the south western tip of the spur from the main plateau to the north east. It comprises a well defined linear bank 60m long and 7m wide standing up to 0.8m high. This is flanked on its north east side by a ditch, 4m wide and 0.7m deep, from which material for the bank was quarried. The earthwork is cut 9m from its northern end by a terraced trackway, the end of the bank remaining traceable to the north of this cut, before it tails out on the steepening hillslope. A similar terraced way truncates the dyke at its southern end. The earthwork is part of a complex of cross-dykes and enclosures occupying the hilltop which are believed to date from the Late Bronze Age or Early Iron Age. Although their function is uncertain it is believed they were used by inhabitants to manage stock and control the grazing of the hilltop. All boundary features crossing the earthwork towards its north and south ends are excluded from the scheduling, although the ground beneath both is included. <10>

Visited during a condition survey by the English Heritage Field Monument Warden, in 1992. Condition recorded as satisfactory. <11>

The cross dyke described by the previous authorities was seen on aerial photographs and mapped as part of the Marches Uplands NMP. It appears to have been incorporated into a banked field system of possible prehistoric date. NMR SO4097/16 03-JAN-1987. <12><12a>

Sources

Search results generated by the HBSMR Gateway from exeGesIS SDM Ltd.