More information : TL 535381) Repell Ditches (NR). (1)
The earliest historical reference to this earthwork was in 1305. It was excavated in 1959 and shown to be of simple bank and ditch construction without berm, revetting or palisade, and one period construction dated between 1250 and 1350. The enclosed area was shown to have been intensely occupied from c 1050 to c 1150, with a falling off in the 13th century. There is some evidence for a complete rectangular enclosure extending to the east (see plan). (2)
Excavations in 1972 at the Rose and Crown Inn (not located - there is a Rose and Crown Inn at TL 53903852 shown on the RCHM plan but it is not in the area of the enclosure) and at the road junction Elm Grove-Audley Road (TL 539382), produce evidence confirming the extension of an enclosure to the east. It was of different construction from Repell Ditches apparently being a palisade ditch. It is now suggested that a defensive perimeter earthwork enclosed the late Saxon town; the extant "Battle Ditch" possibly never completed (3).
Romano-British pottery was found in the enclosed areas. A coin of Elagabalus was found at the bottom of the Repell Ditches and is in Saffron Walden Museum (5).
Excavations at the corner of the High Street and Gold Street (TL 538382) in 1973 revealed a 26.0 metre length of the southern arm of the Battle Ditches to the east of the High Street. Only the lowest 2.0m of the ditch survived below very deep post-Medieval landscaping; it had a flat bottom 1.60m wide. A majority of the few pottery sherds recovered belonged to the later 11th and 12th centuries, and the latest to the 13th century. (6-7)
A cable-trench was dug in 1978 from Saxon Road along the west arm of the ditch system to Abbey Lane. The ditch fill was loose grey loam with 19th century pottery to the depth excavated. The two ends of the Battle Ditches were marked by tips of chalky loam. The path across the south-west angle was shown not to be an original break in the ditches. A 13th century sherd was the only Medieval find. (8)
TL 53543814: The line of the Repell Ditches remaining as earthworks are municipally maintained. They are weed covered which is periodically mown. A footpath on the inner line of the defences stands about 1m above the level of the surrounding gardens. The line of the ditches indicated by auth 2 was perambulated. At c TL 53963823, the garden of a former junior school, is now covered by a housing development. The Jubilee Gardens TL 53863840, the only other remaining open ground on the circuit of these ditches, no trace of the feature was seen. (9)
Additional bibliography (10-11)
The Repell Ditches are mostly covered by trees on the available aerial photographs but are visible as earthworks in lidar data. The ditches extend between 5352 3813 and TL 5367 3816 and between TL 5352 3814 and TL 5349 3828. (12-13)
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