More information : Linear ditches, ploughed out but visible on air photographs run for nearly 1000 yards from SU 03050935 to SU 02400987, beside the Cranborne-Wimborne road. Two almost parallel ditches, 20 feet to 30 feet apart, follow a sinuous course across a gentle west slope of the chalk. Their line is continued westward by a hollow-way (SU 00 NW 1), but whether there is any connection between it and the ditches has not been established. (1-2)
A rapid examination of air photography (4) suggests that the ditches change course abruptly, to run beside the course of the hollow way (SU 00 NW 1). Eventually, they disappear into the wood/scrub east of SU 00 NW 70. (3-4)
These ditches were examined by MPPA with a view to scheduling. The feature is not understood, is undated, and has been reduced by ploughing. It is not recommended for scheduling. (5)
The ditches described by authorities 1-5 have been mapped from aerial photographs by EH's Knowlton Circles Project. They are 932m long, following a slightly sinuous course from Bagman's Copse to a point just south of Knowlton South henge. Aerial photographic evidence indicates that these ditches are a continuation of a more substantial trackway to the west (see comment by authority 2 above), described as SU 00 NW 1. These ditches are now included in that record. (6-7) |