Monument Type(s):

• CROSS DYKE (Early Bronze Age to Medieval - 2600 BC to 1540 AD)
• BOUNDARY BANK (Early Saxon to Mid Saxon - 410 AD? to 800 AD?)
• FRONTIER DEFENCE (Early Saxon to Mid Saxon - 410 AD? to 800 AD?)

Summary

Scheduled Monument: The remains of a boundary dyke effectively blocking the Kerry Ridgeway (an important east-west trackway), the Lower Short Ditch is believed to have functioned as either a precursor to or a reinforcement of Offa's Dyke in the Anglo-Saxon period, though its form suggests Bronze Age origins.

Related records

Associated Finds: None recorded

Associated Events

• ESA1671 - 1970 field observation by English Heritage
• ESA1672 - 1973 field observation by the Ordnance Survey
• ESA8496 - 1986 Excavation on Lower Short Ditch, Boundary Gate by D Hill and M Worthington (Ref: Site 93)
• ESA8497 - 1986 Excavation on Lower Short Ditch, Ditch Crest by D Hill and M Worthington (Ref: Site 92)
• ESA8498 - 1986 Excavation on Lower Short Ditch, Ditch Dingle by D Hill and M Worthington (Ref: Site 91)

Description

The work consists of an earthen bank 5ft to 8ft high from ground level which on its western side descends into a ditch of varying depths with an average of about 5ft. This dyke can be clearly traced in the county of Salop, and it probably extended NW into the valley of Kerry, acting as the boundary of the township of Caeliber Uchaf in its course. It then proceeded up the opposite slope in the direction of Front Heulog Farm where there are clear signs of two shallow parallel banks and ditches, and an intermediate length is faintly perceptible in the field at the back of Goitre Hill Farm. RCHM FI 1909 <1a>
Probably a medieval hard causeway for crossing the peat beds <1b>
Cyril Fox connects this Dyke with Offa's Dyke; it is a lowland peoples' work across the Ridgeway, with a west ditch. One of 8 similar works west of Offa's Dyke, 5 of which cross pre-Offan ridgeways, probably immediately pre-Offan. Lower Short Ditch pursues a straight course in a N/S direction for 750m across the Kerry Ridge. It terminates at both ends at the heads of dingles, and comprises a bank 6m wide x 1.2m high, with a ditch on the west side 4m wide and 1m deep. Thirty metres from the N end, the Kerry Ridgeway, undoubtedly (?!!) a prehistoric trackway, passes through a break in the work. The earthwork has all the characteristics of a LBA cross ridge dyke. Apart from superficial appearance, there is no evidence to associate it with Offa's Dyke or to date it to the Mercian period. OS FI 1973 <1>

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

Scheduling revised in 2002. Scheduling description: ->

-> The monument includes the earthwork and buried remains of a linear boundary or dyke, known as the Lower Short Ditch. It has been linked with the Upper Short Ditch which lies 3.5km to the west of this boundary, in Wales, and seems to have been designed to bar access into territory to the east via an important early trackway known as the Kerry Ridgeway. The Lower Short Ditch straddles the English/ Welsh border. This monument includes only the English section. The section within Wales is protected separately. Both dykes have also been linked to Offa's Dyke, the 8th century Anglo-Saxon defensive earthwork, which is crossed by the Ridgeway at a point 4.5km to the east of the Lower Short Ditch. If the two Short Ditches were designed to prevent British (Welsh) incursions into the territory of the Anglo-Saxons, then the earthwork defences may predate the construction of Offa's Dyke. ->

-> The Ditch includes an earthwork bank, on average 1.4m high and 12m wide at the base, with a ditch immediately to the west, 5m wide and about 1.2m deep. On the east side is a smaller ditch, up to 3m wide and 0.3m deep. It runs for 710m from north to south, linking two steep sided natural declivities which plunge down off the crest of the Kerry Ridge. At either end there is a clear terminal to the bank, with the western ditch continuing down the steep slopes for several metres. This would have effectively sealed off any traffic from west to east at this point. The current boundary between England and Wales runs along the course of the Kerry Ridgeway and has cut the Ditch at the north end, leaving 40m of the defensive earthwork in Wales. ->

-> Within the recent past a metalled roadway has been constructed along the top of the bank for the northern two thirds of the monument, linking the track which cuts the Ditch at the south eastern corner of Square Plantation to the Kerry Ridgeway. The metalled surfaces of the roadway and the Kerry Ridgeway and the track which cuts the Ditch at the south eastern corner of the Square Plantation are excluded from the Scheduling, altthough the ground beneath these features is included. <11>

Photographed during aerial survey in 2010. <13>

Excavation on Lower Short Dyke carried out by the Offa's Dyke Project (Hill and Worthington) in 1986; noted but no further information available.
SHROPSHIRE: Lower Short Ditch, Boundary Gate (Site 93) (SO 222 879): This excavation of a break in the dyke gave a partial section. Details of the crest were recovered at SHROPSHIRE: Lower Short Ditch Crest (Site 92) (SO 222 878) and the true end of the earthwork was checked by a trench at SHROPSHIRE: Lower Short Ditch, Ditch Dingle (Site 91) (SO 222 877). <14>

No other sources have been identified for the excavation referred to in <14>. All locations are based on a 6 figure NGR. <15>

<00> Shropshire County Council SMR, Site and Monuments Record (SMR) cards, SMR Card for PRN SA 01199 (Card index). SSA20722.

<01b> Bird A J, Map annotation by OS Correspondent (Map annotation). SSA10829.

<01a> Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of Wales (RCHMW), 1911, Montgomeryshire, p58, p291 (Monograph). SSA4868.

<01> Ordnance Survey, 1973, Ordnance Survey Record Card SO28NW3 (Card index). SSA4869.

<02> Musson Chris R, 1983-Nov-23, CPAT 83/C/0604 (Oblique aerial photograph). SSA17219.

<03> Musson Chris R, 1983-Nov-23, CPAT 83/C/0609 (Oblique aerial photograph). SSA17220.

<04> Musson Chris R, 1983-Nov-23, CPAT 83/26/0005 to 0006 (2 photos) (Oblique aerial photograph). SSA17221.

<05> Musson Chris R, 1989-Jul-29, CPAT 89/MB/1172 (Oblique aerial photograph). SSA17222.

<06> Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission (HBMC), 1987-May-11, Scheduled Monument Report on SAM 32455 (11/05/1987) (Field Monument Warden Report). SSA4871.

<07> Bird A J, 1977, History on the Ground, p93 (Monograph). SSA475.

<08> Musson Chris R, 1985-Jul-18, CPAT 85/12/0021 (Oblique aerial photograph). SSA17223.

<09> Department of the Environment (DoE), 1972, Map of Scheduled area, 1972 (Scheduled Monument notification). SSA4870.

<10> Horton Wendy B, 1990/ 1991, MPP Evaluation File (TEXT). SSA20084.

<11> English Heritage, 2002, Scheduling Papers (Revised Scheduling, 24/04/2002) (Scheduled Monument notification). SSA20755.

<12> Watson Michael D, 2002, Shropshire An Archaeological Guide, p9 (Monograph). SSA22535.

<13> Shropshire Council, 2010-Mar-7, SA1004_284 (1 photo) Flight: 10_SA_04 (Oblique aerial photograph). SSA26611.

<14> Young S M et 2 al, 1986, Medieval Britain and Ireland in 1985, p.152 (Article in serial). SSA11615.

<15> Carey Giles, 2014 onwards, Comments by Giles Carey, HER compiler in HER database, 07/03/2018 (SMR comment). SSA26784.

Sources

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