HER 508 DESCRIPTION:- Scheduled Monument Description:- Section of Offa's Dyke running from SO5379803451 to SO5403803872. Formerly known as SAM90. NATIONAL MONUMENT NO: 33465 NATIONAL GRID REFERENCE: SO53970384 DESCRIPTION OF THE MONUMENT The monument includes the buried and earthwork remains of Offa’s Dyke, 230m north of Hudnalls Farm. Offa’s Dyke generally consists of a bank up to 3.5m high with an intermittent ditch to the west and quarry ditches to the east. In places Offa’s Dyke was strengthened by additional earthworks, namely a berm between the bank and ditch, and a counterscarp bank on the western lip of the ditch. In this section the Dyke turns from its usual alignment to run for some 115m from north east to south west. It is visible as a terrace with quarry pits to the south. The terrace stands to between 0.5m and 1m high, while the quarries to the south cover an area between 2m and 4m wide and are up to 0.5m deep. All wooden fence posts, gate posts and stone walls are excluded from the scheduling, although the ground beneath these features is included. ASSESSMENT OF IMPORTANCE The section of Offa’s Dyke 230m north of Hudnalls Farm survives well. The terrace will have preserved part of the original ground surface, predating the construction of the monument and, along with the quarries, will contain environmental evidence in the form of organic remains which will relate both to the Dyke and the landscape in which it was constructed. The terrace will also contain evidence relating to the methods of construction of the monument and the building materials used. NATIONAL MONUMENT NO: 33466 NATIONAL GRID REFERENCE: SO53850377 DESCRIPTION OF THE MONUMENT The monument includes the buried and earthworks remains of Offa’s Dyke immediately to the south of Sittingreen, on St Briavels Common. Offa’s Dyke generally consists of a bank up to 3.5m high with an intermittent ditch to the west and quarry ditches to the east. In places Offa’s Dyke was strengthened by additional earthworks, namely a berm between the bank and ditch, and a counterscarp bank on the western lip of the ditch. In this section the Dyke turns from its usual alignment to run for some 173m. It is visible as a bank with a ditch to the west and quarry pits to the east. The bank stands to about 1.7m on its western face and to between 0.5m and 0.7m high on its eastern face. The ditch is approximately 7m wide and up to 0.4m deep, while the quarries cover an area of up to 6m wide and 0.6m deep. In the northern part of this section the bank has been reduced through cultivation and landscaping gin the past, and the ditch and quarries have become infilled and are no longer visible at ground level, although they will survive as buried features. All wooden fence posts, gate posts and stone walls, driveways and garden sheds are excluded from the scheduling, although the ground beneath these features is included. ASSESSMENT OF IMPORTANCE The section of Offa’s Dyke immediately south of Sittingreen survives well. The bank will have preserved part of the original ground surface, predating the construction of the monument and, along with the ditch and the quarries, will contain environmental evidence in the form of organic remains which will relate both to the Dyke and the landscape in which it was constructed. The bank will also contain evidence relating to the methods of construction of the monument and the building materials used. NATIONAL MONUMENT NO: 33467 NATIONAL GRID REFERENCE: SO53810359 DESCRIPTION OF THE MONUMENT The monument includes the buried and earthwork remains of Offa’s Dyke, 190m west of Hudnalls Farm. Offa’s Dyke generally consists of a bank up to 3.5m high with an intermittent ditch to the west and quarry ditches to the east. In places Offa’s Dyke was strengthened by additional earthworks, namely a berm between the bank and ditch, and a counterscarp bank on the western lip of the ditch. In this section the Dyke runs for some 204m and is visible as a bank with quarries to the east. The bank is about 8m wide and stands to between 1m and 1.5m high on its eastern face, its western face having been removed by the construction of the roadway to the west. The quarries cover an area between 2m and 6m wide and are up to 2m deep. At the southern end of the section, a trackway marks the line of the bank, which is no longer visible, having become worn away over time, but which will survive as buried features. At this scale the Ordnance Survey depiction for this section of the Dyke shows its southern half being overlain by a road. However, on the ground this feature is in fact just a bridleway track lying on the western side of the Dyke. All wooden fence posts, gate posts and stone walls are excluded from the scheduling, although the ground beneath these features is included. ASSESSEMENT OF IMPORTANCE The section of Offa’s Dyke 190m west of Hudnalls Farm survives well. The bank will have preserved part of the original ground surface, predating the construction of the monument and, along with the quarries, will contain environmental evidence in the form of organic remains which will relate both to the Dyke and the landscape in which it was constructed. The bank will also contain evidence relating to the methods of construction of the monument and the building materials used. {Source Work 2873.} c. 1880-c. 1925 - The monument is generally recorded as either a terrace or bank on the 1st, 2nd and 3rd OS County Series 25" maps. Some sections of the monument were not recorded on these sources. {Source Works 5134, 5136 , 5138.} 1893-4 - Maclean made a survey of the course of the dyke for an article in the Transactions of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society {Source Work 1604}. 1931 - In places Fox recorded that the dyke consisted of a well marked bank with traces of an eastern (quarry) ditch, although some section of the monument were "ill defined"or could not be seen. {Source Work 102.} 1970 - The Royal Commission Lin 33 survey recorded the monument mainly as a bank in this section. {Source Work 2853.} 1995 - The Offa's Dyke Management Survey made detailed records of this section of the monument which can be found under HER 16421, 16423, 16426, 16429, 16431 and 16436. The monument in this section mainly survived as a bank. Where later roads or tracks ran along the outer face of the bank, these had cut into the face, creating a terrace consisting of the inner side of the bank. In places Offan quarries were recorded on the inner side of the monument. The monument was not traced in the garden of Sittingreen (SMR 16432.) {Source Works 2206, 6650.}. The monument was not visible on aerial photographs taken in 1946 and 1975. {Source Works 615 & 863, & pers. comm. S. Brown.} See also SMR Area Management screen. 1997 - An archaeological watching brief was carried out by Glos County Council Archaeology Service between 13-14/10/1997. This was in connection with groundworks involved in the conversion of two small redundant buildings to two holiday lets. The work involved ground reduction, moling and trenching across and/or around Offa's Dyke SAM 90. No visible earthworks of Offa's Dyke were affected by the groundworks. Moling limited damage to any archaeological deposits within the SAM but it also precluded the opportunity of making detailed observations if trenched throughout. However, moling did suggest a greater density of limestone fragments within the SAM than outside. No stratigraphic profile of the Dyke was identified during groundworks. An area of compacted sand overlying compacted clayey-sand is unlikely to be significant. The site archive has been deposited at Dean Heritage Museum under accession number 2003/4. {Source Work 4389.} 2000 - Scheduling reviews "115m long section of terrace with quarries to the south on St. Briavels Common, 250m north of Hudnalls Farm NGR: SO 53980386... ...Reason for Amendment to Scheduled Area: The monument has been reviewed and it is now considered that the scheduling should be amended to cover the full extent of the monument, including the quarry pits to the south of the terrace, which will contain archaeological information and environmental evidence integral to a full understanding of the monument." Source Work 17499.} "173m long section of bank with ditch to the west and quarries to the east on St. Briavels Common south of Sitting Green NGR: SO 53850377 ... ...Reason for Amendment to Scheduled Area: The monument has been reviewed and it is now considered that the scheduling should be amended to cover the full extent of the monument, including the ditch to the west and the quarry pits to the east of the bank, which will contain archaeological information and environmental evidence integral to a full understanding of the monument." {Source Work 17500.} "204m long section of bank with quarries to the east on St. Briavels Common, 160m west of Hudnalls Farm NGR: SO 53820361... ...Reason for Amendment to Scheduled Area: The monument has been reviewed and it is now considered that the scheduling should be amended to cover the full extent of the monument, including the quarry pits to the east of the bank, which will contain archaeological information and environmental evidence integral to a full understanding of the monument." {Source Work 17501.} 2000 - MPP Alternative Action Report: Line of Offa’s Dyke, St. Briavels NGR: SO 53820344 “Fox believed that this section of the Dyke had been destroyed. In 1995 an overgrown rubble spread was noted in this area, but its status was unclear and it was thought unlikely to indicate the line of the monument. No trace of the Dyke was found anywhere else in the area, although it is thought that the trackway of the Offa’s Dyke long distance foot path may run along the original line of the monument. Geophysical survey and trial excavation in these areas may indicate the original course of the monument through the recognition of quarry pits to the east or the ditch to the west.” {Source Work 17524.} 2003 - This area was mapped at 1:10,000 scale as part of the English Heritage: Gloucestershire NMP project. Two short segments of Offa's Dyke are visible as earthworks on aerial photographs. The northern section is c. 35m in length and is located at SO 5384 0375. The southern section is located at SO 5381 0341and is c. 45m in length. {Source Works 4249, 7549 and 3329.} Other linear banks in the vicinity which were identified by the NMP as possibly forming part of Offa's Dyke are not on the course of the dyke. {Pers. comm. J. Hoyle.} 2011 - This site is included in a thesis on Medieval Dykes when looking at Offa's Dyke in the Wye Valley:- There are two sections main sections of bank commonly called Offa’s Dyke on the east bank of the River Wye in Gloucestershire, a shorter stretch centred on English Bicknor, a longer section downstream centred on St Briavel’s Common extending north from Newland parish to Tidenham. This study refers to these two parts as the English Bicknor earthwork and the southern earthwork. Most parts are quite close to the east bank of the river, usually on top of the cliffs on the eastern side though across St Briavel’s Common the earthwork runs across flatter land up to a kilometre from the river. Note that another earthwork in Gloucestershire also in Tidenham parish commonly called Offa’s Dyke at the mouth of the River Wye, Beachley Bank, has a separate entry. With no conclusive dating evidence the earthworks along the Wye valley in Gloucestershire are possible early medieval dykes (though the builders of the earthwork might have reused or refurbished the Iron Age ramparts at Symonds Yat and Lancaut no dimension are given as this is speculative). Name:- Hill implied it was the publication of Fox’s work that lead to the attachment of Offa’s name to these earthworks (Hill and Worthington 2003 146-48). However, earthworks along the River Wye are clearly marked as Offa’s Dyke on nineteenth century Ordnance Survey maps, called Offa’s Dyke by Omerod in 1842 and a 1321 document names an earthwork near St Briavel’s as Offedich (Ormerod 1842 14-15; Herbert 1996 249). Evidence:- Along the east bank of the River Wye there are undoubtedly earthworks, but it is very difficult to distinguish it from evidence of quarrying, lynchets, hollow ways, field boundaries and Iron Age features. Fox, Hill, the Ordnance Survey, the NMR and the Gloucestershire SMR all dismiss or include sections the others do not. It was usually assumed gaps in the earthwork existed as the builders utilised cliffs as well as older earthworks to save on labour (Stanford 1980 197). Though Bapty notes recent lidar data fills many of the gaps along the River Wye, but just because a feature links two earthworks it is not proof they are all contemporary and not, say, a field boundary or track (Bapty 2007 24). Though both Malim and Hill accept there is an earthwork running along the east bank of the River Wye, neither think it part of Offa’s Dyke noting how it is much smaller (Hill 2000 198-200; Hill and Worthington 2003 45 and 143-47; Malim 2007 25). Not only are the earthworks by the Wye often set back from the crests of slopes it would be odd if the Mercians built a dyke in Gloucestershire where steep cliffs line the banks of the river when they did not bother in Herefordshire where the valley is much easier to cross (Hill and Worthington 2003 147). For Fox, Offa set back the earthwork from the Wye because, as an agreed frontier, he allowed Welsh boatmen access to the river and the earthwork marked the edge between cultivated Mercian land to the east and forest and moor to the west (Fox 1955 211-23). There have been a few excavations and watching briefs (usually in advance of pipeline laying), but not only have these produced no dating evidence, often the trenches reveal no sign of the earthwork (Hill and Worthington 2003 144 and 184). This is possibly due to the fact that being a scheduled monument the digs were at pre-existing gaps in the earthwork where past activity has already destroyed the dyke. In 1965 a group from Gloucester Museum cut a section through the earthwork at Lippett’s Grove in Tidenham parish (SO540001) revealing a bank, an apparently very shallow ditch and a counterscarp bank. In 1978-79 Gloucestershire County Council Archaeology Service carried out a dig at Birchfield Cottage in St Briavel’s parish (SO535025), but found no evidence of a dyke. According to Hill they dug near the Devil’s Pulpit (at ST543995) in 1983, but the only dig in the area recorded in the SMR was a watching brief carried out two years later just to the north (at SO542000) on a narrow trench cut by the South Wales Electricity Board through an existing gap in the monument.1 The latter dig found the base of the bank and the base of the infilled ditch. In 1993 a dig they carried out at Beeches Bungalow in St Briavel’s Common (SO538031) revealed that construction of the house platform had removed all traces of the dyke. As well as these excavations sections of the earthwork have been surveyed by Gloucestershire County Environment Department (for example in 1995 they started on the area north of Lydbrook, SO602183 to SO596170) and more recently this work has involved the use of lidar data (Nenk, Margeson et al. 1996 255; Bapty 2003; Bapty 2007 24). Location:- The English Bicknor earthwork lies in the parishes of Lydrook and English Bicknor and if we connect the definite portions marked in Fox’s plans (SO592173 southwest to SO584168) this section was up to 1.2 kilometres long, though Hill gives a figure of 800 metres as there are gaps in the earthwork (Fox 1955 184-86; Hill and Worthington 2003 45). This section might be even longer as the SMR/NMR record it about 100 metres further south (SO583165) and there is a feature that follows the same alignment as the dyke further north which might be a hollow way, though Fox and the NMR is dubious of this northern extension. The negative evidence of various surveys recorded in the SMR make Noble’s suggestion the dyke extended even further north into the parish of Ruarden very unlikely (Noble and Gelling 1983 12 and 16). The southern earthwork starts just south of Redbrook (SO539091) and runs southward through the parish of St Briavel’s through the parish of Hewelsfield and Brookwier finishing in Chapelhouse Wood near Tutshill in the parish of Tidenham (to ST536951) 14 kilometres away as crow flies, 16 kilometres on the ground (Fox 1955 186-96; Hill and Worthington 2003 45). A lynchet (ST533945, Gloucestershire SMR reference 21591) may mark a small continuation about 400 metres further south of Chapelhouse Wood (Fox 1955 195-96; Noble and Gelling 1983 2-3)There is a gap about two kilometres long in the southern section between Dennel Hill and Woodcroft (ST549967 to ST538953). On loops in the east bank of the River Wye there are two multivallate promontory forts and though archaeologists have not excavated them, the NMR and SMR assumes they are Iron Age. The first at Symonds Yat (SO564156, NMR SO 51 NE 3, Monument 109563) lies in the gap between the English Bicknor and southern section of Offa’s Dyke (Fox 1955 186). The second at Lancaut (the ramparts run from ST542968 to ST541965, NMR reference ST 59 NW 3, Monument 198723) lies in the middle of the gap in the southern section where Fox failed to find any signs of anything that might be Offa’s Dyke (Fox 1955 194-95). If excavated there Iron Age ramparts might show evidence the builders of Offa’s Dyke in Gloucestershire reused or refurbished them. None of the earthworks in this section is contiguous with parish boundaries, possibly because utilising the nearby River Wye was far more obvious and convenient. Structure :- As it is not certain which sections of the earthworks along the Wye in Gloucestershire are original unaltered by later agricultural activity or quarrying, measurements are difficult to make. In some parts Fox mentions a wide berm, in others he says there is no berm (Fox 1955 187-88). In most sections there is a single bank and usually a single ditch, but the ditch varies from the east to the west side; this eastern ditch being one of the reasons Hill dismisses this earthwork as the work of Offa (Fox 1955 220; Hill and Worthington 2003 146). An eastern ditch is on the ‘wrong’ side for a Mercian border with the Welsh and Fox constantly dismisses apparent eastern ditches as quarries for the bank (Fox 1955 184, 187-88 and 191). The English Bicknor earthwork and the southern section both vary in scale and structure. The northern part of the English Bicknor earthwork in Lydbrook has no ditch, but parts of the front of the bank have a possible stone revetment. Further south in English Bicknor there is a ditch on the west side separated from the bank by a berm. This ditch is up to 5 metres wide and 1.5 metres deep (though in parts only 0.4 metres deep and much narrower) and there is often a counterscarp bank. The bank in this sector varies from 7 to 10 metres wide to 11 to 15 metres wide. The height of the bank is difficult to measure where it is on sloping ground (as this exaggerates the elevation on the western side), but seems to be around 1.5 metres high, though Fox said where ‘recent’ roadway cut through dyke in English Bicknor the bank was found to be 2.1 metres high (Fox 1955 184). The southern earthwork, being longer, varies even more. In the parish of Newland there is a bank up to 10 to 13.5 metres wide and up to a metre high with intermittent ditches on the west side up to a metre deep and 5 metres wide sometimes with a counterscarp bank up to 0.8 metres wide and 4 to 8 metres wide. In places in Newland there are quarry ditches 0.4 to 1 metre deep and 3 to 6 metres wide on the east side, elsewhere the earthwork is merely terrace 4 metres wide and a metre high, and in others it is a scarp of the slope up to 3.5 metres high. On St Briavels Common some sections have a bank up to 1.2 metres high and 6 metres to 11 metres wide with quarry ditches to the east up generally 0.5 metres deep (though in some places up to 1.5 metres deep) and 3 to 5 metres wide (again in places up to 7 metres wide). In some part of St Briaviels’s Common, for example south of Sittingreen, there is a ditch to the west of the bank, this is around 0.4 metres deep and 7 metres wide, separated from the bank by a berm and in places there is a counterscarp bank around 0.5 metres high and 6 metres wide. In Hewelsfield and Brookwier parish near Brook House east of Brookwier there is a bank up to 0.5 metres high and up to 8 metres wide with quarry ditches on the eastern side up to 0.4 metres deep and 2 to 3 metres wide. The Lippett’s Grove the bank stands to a maximum height of 5.1 metres on its northwest face and 1.4 metres on its southeast faces (this variation is due to the steep slope) and is about 12 metres wide at the base. Where the slope is steep there is a berm about 2 metres wide, where the slope is shallow there is a ditch on the west side up to 0.7 metres deep and 3 metres wide and a counterscarp bank up to 0.7 metres high. A series of quarry pits lie to east of the bank in Lippett’s Grove up to 0.7 metres deep and between 3 and 7 metres wide. The southernmost section in Chapelhouse Wood in Tidenham the Dyke is visible as a ditch up to 0.4 metres deep and one metre wide with a bank on the east side bank around a metre high and 10 to 12 metres wide. To the west of the ditch is a counterscarp bank up to 0.4 metres high and 4 metres wide and shallow quarry pits to the east of the bank. An approximate median size for the features in the southern section (working from west to east across the monument) is a counterscarp bank 0.6 metres high and 5 metres wide, a ditch 0.6 metres deep and 4 metres wide, a bank a metre high and 10 metres wide and a quarry ditch 0.7 metres deep and 4 metres wide. {Source Work 10811.} 2019 - Elements of this monument were previously recorded within the Historic England National Record of the Historic Environment. Additional information from that record, formerly held within the AMIE database, are quoted below and in associated record, HER 26250: SO 5387 0366. Six short segments of Offa's Dyke, extending for a total distance of 625m (SO 5381 0338 - SO 5393 0399), are visible as earthworks on aerial photographs. The longest segment is 97m, the shortest is 35m. The earthworks have been mapped by EH's Gloucestershire NMP. (1)” {Source Work 4249.} 2017 - A management conservation survey was undertaken by Offa's Dyke Association, Historic England and Cadw during 2017. A managment plan was produced. Each land parcel management recommendation has been added to the field parcels allocated during the 1995 management survey by Gloucestershire County Council Archaeology Service. Project ID OD234 Scheduled Yes Scheduled Monument Number 1020533 Guardianship No On Heritage at Risk Register? No Name Offa's Dyke: section on St Briavels Common, 230m north of Hudnalls Farm County Gloucestershire (Forest of Dean) National Grid Reference SO 53971 03846 No of Segments in Section 1 Survey Date(s) Tuesday, August 22, 2017 Form Slighter Condition Trend Favourable Vulnerability Low Risk Low Condition Code VH3 Description Monument section, of slighter form, mostly beneath pasture, with fenced hedgerow to north, beyond which is a tarmacadam public highway Action None Biodiversity N/A Landscape Wye Valley Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty Project ID OD235 Scheduled Yes Scheduled Monument Number 1020525 Guardianship No On Heritage at Risk Register? No Name Offa's Dyke: section on St Briavels Common, immediately south of Sittingreen County Gloucestershire (Forest of Dean) National Grid Reference SO 53871 03791 No of Segments in Section 1 Survey Date(s) Tuesday, August 22, 2017 Form Slighter Condition Trend Unfavourable No Change Vulnerability Low Risk Low Condition Code DG4 VH3 VW3 Description Monument section, of slighter form, beneath the garden curtilage of Sittingreen to the east (patio, with lawn on made-up ground); and garden curtilage and paddock of Sitting Pretty. Stone-surfaced access track to Sitting Pretty crossing line of the Dyke. Woodland to south. Action None Biodiversity N/A Landscape Wye Valley Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty HLW (Gt) 3 The Lower Wye Valley, 80m (part), Register of Outstanding Historic Landscapes in Wales Project ID OD236 Scheduled Yes Scheduled Monument Number 1020526 Guardianship No On Heritage at Risk Register? No Name Offa's Dyke: section on St Briavels Common, 190m west of Hudnalls Farm County Gloucestershire (Forest of Dean) National Grid Reference SO 53822 03589 No of Segments in Section 1 Survey Date(s) Tuesday, August 22, 2017 Form Substantial Condition Trend Unfavourable No Change Vulnerability Low Risk Low Condition Code AIF3 AIT3 VB3 VH3 Description Monument section, of substantial form, mostly under pasture, bounded to west by fenced hedgerow, with occasional trees, beyond which unsurfaced restricted byway forming the line of Offa's Dyke Path. Rank vegetation (bramble, nettle). Slight sheet erosion by livestock. Action Control rank vegetation (bramble, nettle) by repeated cutting or chemical treatment, as appropriate Install sacrificial surface to restricted byway Biodiversity N/A Landscape Wye Valley Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty HLW (Gt) 3 The Lower Wye Valley, Register of Outstanding Historic Landscapes in Wales {Source Work 17359.} |