List Entry Summary
This monument is scheduled under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979 as amended as it appears to the Secretary of State to be of national importance. This entry is a copy, the original is held by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.
Name: Combe Ditch, linear dyke
List Entry Number: 1002400
Location
The monument may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.
County:
District: Dorset
District Type: Unitary Authority
Parish: Anderson
County:
District: Dorset
District Type: Unitary Authority
Parish: Charlton Marshall
County:
District: Dorset
District Type: Unitary Authority
Parish: Spetisbury
County:
District: Dorset
District Type: Unitary Authority
Parish: Sturminster Marshall
County:
District: Dorset
District Type: Unitary Authority
Parish: Winterborne Kingston
County:
District: Dorset
District Type: Unitary Authority
Parish: Winterborne Whitechurch
National Park: Not applicable to this List entry.
Grade: Not applicable to this List entry.
Date first scheduled: 23-Jun-1976
Date of most recent amendment: Not applicable to this List entry.
Legacy System Information
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
Legacy System: RSM - OCN
UID: DO 764
Asset Groupings
This List entry does not comprise part of an Asset Grouping. Asset Groupings are not part of the official record but are added later for information.
List Entry Description
Summary of Monument
Part of the prehistoric linear boundary called Combe or Combs Ditch.
Reasons for Designation
Linear boundaries are substantial earthwork features comprising single or multiple ditches and banks which may extend over distances which vary from less than 1km to over 10km. They survive as earthworks or as linear features visible as cropmarks on aerial photographs or as a combination of both. The evidence of excavation and study of associated monuments demonstrate that their construction spans the millennium from the Middle Bronze Age, although they may have been reused later. The scale of many linear boundaries has been taken to indicate that they were constructed by large social groups and were used to mark important boundaries in the landscape; their impressive scale displaying the corporate prestige of their builders. They would have been powerful symbols, often with religious associations, used to define and order the territorial holdings of those groups who constructed them. The adaptive re-use of the part of the prehistoric linear boundary called Combs Ditch indicates its continued significance as a boundary feature over a considerable period of time. It will contain archaeological and environmental evidence relating to its construction, development, adaptive re-use, alterations in construction techniques, social organisation of the builders and overall landscape context.
History
See Details.
Details
This record was the subject of a minor enhancement on 17 February 2016. This record has been generated from an "old county number" (OCN) scheduling record. These are monuments that were not reviewed under the Monuments Protection Programme and are some of our oldest designation records.
This monument, which falls into four separate areas, includes a prehistoric linear boundary which was adaptively re-used during the Late Roman and early medieval periods and is situated on the summit of a broad ridge through undulating down land between the River Stour and South Winterborne. The boundary survives differentially through its considerable length as a bank with its associated ditch which in places also has a berm and counterscarp bank. The bank varies in width from 5.4m up to 8.5m and from 0.4m up to 1.3m high and the ditch is from 4.8m up to 8.5m wide and averages 0.9m deep. Excavations in 1965 indicated the linear boundary had its origins as an Iron Age work associated with agricultural activities which became more heavily defensive during the late Roman and Anglo-Saxon periods with the addition of more pronounced earthworks.
Selected Sources
OtherPastScape 205716
Map
National Grid Reference: ST 85628 01921, ST 86050 01434, ST 87253 00629, ST 88373 00141
The below map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale. For a copy of the full scale map, please see the attached PDF - 1002400.pdf - Please be aware that it may take a few minutes for the download to complete.
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This copy shows the entry on 11-May-2024 at 02:04:21.