| Summary : The Cleave Dyke system, of probable Later Bronze Age/ Iron Age date, is the most westerly of a series of dyke systems on the Tabular Hills of north east Yorkshire. The name has been given to a series of linear ditches and banks stretching north-south over 9km parallel with and close to the western scarp of the Hambleton Hills. The system was constructed between the Late Bronze Age and the Iron Age to augment the natural division of the terrain by river valleys and watersheds. Significant stretches remain visible as upstanding earthworks. Elsewhere it can be recognised as a cropmark on aerial photographs. The system formed a prehistoric territorial boundary in an area largely given over to pastoralism; the impressive scale of the earthworks displays the corporate prestige of their builders. In some instances the boundaries have remained in use to the present day. Elements of this monument were mapped as part of the North York Moors National Park NMP, visible as cropmarks and earthworks on air photographs. The monument is intermittently defined by two parallel banks and an internal ditch. A Second World War bombing decoy (UID 1346971) superimposes a section of the monument; the dummy runway appears to have levelled a portion of the earthwork. On Hambleton Moor a section of the dyke appears to have been defined by both a pit alignment and ditch. To the immediate north of the pit alignment the course of the dyke circumnavigates two Bronze Age round barrows (UID 57139, 57136), first to the east, then to the west. Elements of the monument appear to be extant on the latest 2009 vertical photography. |
More information : SE 5089 8759 - SE 5196 8265. Cleave Dike (NR), Cleave Dike (NR) (course of)
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The Cleave Dike extends intermittently for five and a half miles, from SE 501 897 to SE 519 826, along high ground east of an escarpment. It consists of a bank 9-10 feet wide, 4-5 feet high, with a 6 foot wide ditch on the east side. At SE 511 845 there is a branch to the west. Near High Barn (SE 5067 8670) the dyke resembles a series of pits similar to Neolithic works; Neolithic sherds have been found in this area. The date and purpose of the dike are obscure. It could be some form of cursus, or a territorial boundary, possibly associated with Boltby Scar fort (SE 58 NW 20), the ramparts of which are much in keeping with those of the dike.
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SE 5010 8958 - SE 5048 8900. Bank - 5m wide, 0.9m high, reduced in the main to an east-facing scarp by a track. Remnants of a ditch on the east up to a field wall. (3)
SE 5047 8900 - SE 5095 8777. A modern road has been made along the line of the dike. No trace. SE 5095 8777 - SE 5085 8711. Ploughed out; no trace. (Note: There is no trace through the modern plantation at SE 5090 8757). SE 5080 8633 - SE 5075 8614. Ploughed out; no trace. SE 5098 8540 - SE 5121 8500. Ploughed out but course still discernible (at time of visit) by a broad band of stony ground about 12.0m wide in ploughed field. Published Survey (1:2500) revised
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SE 5121 8500 SE 5146 8362. Dike totally obliterated with only a scatter of stones remaining on the surface in places. SE 5109 8452 - SE 5132 8449. Branch mentioned by Hayes (Authority 2). No trace. SE 5146 8362 - SE 5154 8343. Ditch circa 4.0m wide and 1.0m deep with a bank on each side. The banks are much mutilated and up to 0.5m high. SE 5154 8343 - SE 5160 8331. Ploughed out. Cropmark visible on Ordnance Survey air photographs. SE 5160 8331 - SE 5162 8325. Bank mutilated by plantation. Slight remains only. SE 5162 8325 - SE 5163 8320. No trace. SE 5163 8320 - SE 5165 8298. Well-preserved bank up to 1.0m high at NE side of modern car-park. SE 5166 8297 - SE 5188 8277. Poorly-preserved section within plantation. The ditch has been obliterated and the bank is nowhere higher than 0.5m. SE 5189 8274 - SE 5197 8235. Remains of bank up to 1.0m high and the slight remains of the ditch are not surveyable.
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Air photographs of ploughed out lengths of Cleave Dyke were taken by DA Spratt and DR Brown in 1977. At SE 5110 8828 a circular crop mark appeared, attached to the dyke. On the ground this was seen as a hollow, 9.0m diameter and 1.0m deep, littered with the same limestone debris which marks the position of the dyke. At SE 5132 8438 the dyke crop mark showed as a series of separate circular marks, indicating that at some stage it had been a pit alignment and confirmed earlier field work by Denny (a). (6)
`D'. Uncertain dyke from Steeple Cross southward from SE 494 902 to SE 502 896. It is impossible to establish this part of the dyke system because of quarrying, forestry and road disturbances. The wording of a 1246 agreement suggests that Cleave Dyke only ran as far north as `Ycornescahghe' at SE 502 896. This whole section therefore remains conjectural. `F'. Cleave Dyke from SE 502 896 to SE 509 878 at Sneck Yat. This dyke is preserved on the east side of Hambleton Street in the northern part, but is bulldozed away in the south. The bank, partly bulldozed away on the western edge, lies to the west of the ditch. Height of bank above ground level, 0.6m; Depth of ditch below ground level, 0.5m; Width of bank, 1.5m; Width of ditch, 3.3m. A possible spur to the west showed as a cropmark at SE 506 888 in 1979. `I'. Cleave Dyke from SE 509 878 to SE 508 861. The ditch was detected by excavation in Sneck Yat plantation. It is not visible in the pasture field south of this, except as a very faint line on air photographs, but geophysical survey showed it to lie on the line given on the 1892 map. Southward from this field it was visible as a cropmark in 1979 from SE 5088 871 to SE 508 863. It can just be traced on the ground in the pasture field from SE 508 853 to SE 508 861 as a ditch. There is a gap in the Cleave Dyke, probably original, from SE 508 861 to SE 510 854. `K'. Cleave Dyke from SE 510 854 to SE 513 840. It is shown on the 1795 and 1892 maps and has been visible many times as a cropmark since its destruction in the 1960's. `L'. Spur running westward from SE 513 844 to SE 510 845. This is shown on the 1892 map. It was ploughed out in the 1960s and is now visible as a cropmark. `M'. Cleave Dyke from SE 513 840 to SE 516 833. The bank undulates along some of its length as though reflecting the construction of a pit alignment. The dyke is visible as a cropmark for the 100 metres of its southern tip. The banks are on both sides of the ditch. Eight of bank, 0.2m east and 0.3m west; Width of bank, 2.4m east and 2.7m west; Depth of ditch, 0.8m; Width of ditch, 3.3m. `N'. Cleave Dyke from SE 516 833 to its southern termination at SE 520 827. It is cut by Casten Dyke North (SE 58 SW 30) and is therefore the earlier of the two. There are banks on both sides of the ditch in places. Height of bank, 0.5m north and 0.5m south; Width of bank, 2.1m north and 3.0m south; Depth of ditch, 0.5m; Width of ditch, 2.7m. Forms part of the Cleave Dyke System which is shown by field and aerial evidence to originate probably in the late Bronze or Iron Age. The dyke system was developed earlier than the Hambleton Street (SE 58 SW 43) and the High Street which seem to have come into use in the Roman and/or Saxon periods.
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SE 5097 8541 - SE 5129 8443. Section of the Cleave Dyke prehistoric boundary NW of Dialstone Farm. Scheduled. RSM No 25564. SE 5176 8294 - SE 5198 8263. Section forming the southern part of the main Cleave Dyke (Scheduled with Casten Dike (SE 58 SW 30) and a round barrow (SE 58 SW 33). Scheduled RSM No 26933.
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SE 5161 8319 - SE 5173 8298. Section of the Cleave Dyke system 45m east of the visitors' centre at Sutton Bank. Scheduled RSM 26926.
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See Linear Archive File for further details.
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English Heritage Schedule revision 09-Oct-1996
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English Heritage Schedule revision 31-Jan-1997
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English Heritage Schedule revision 03-Jan-1997
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In August 2001, English Heritage carried out a Level 1 field examination of the intersection of the Cleve Dyke with Casten Dyke North, to inform an investigation of Casten Dyke South. The section of the Cleve Dyke between SE 5166 8297 and SE 5188 8277, described by Source 5 as being in 'poor condition', is actually remarkably well preserved considering it lies within a coniferous plantation. The northern part of this stretch is a pit-alignment, the pits regular in size and form and visible as a sub-rectangular imprint 1.8m long by c1m wide. The southern part, approaching the Cleve Dyke, appears to have been recut, with the bank on the opposite side of the ditch and the pits not so easily identifiable.
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Elements of this monument were mapped as part of the North York Moors National Park NMP, visible as cropmarks and earthworks on air photographs. As described by authorities 1-14 above, the monument is intermittently defined by two parallel banks and an internal ditch. A Second World War bombing decoy (UID 1346971) superimposes a section of the monument; the dummy runway appears to have levelled a portion of the earthwork. A post medieval extractive pit has destroyed a further section. On Hambleton Moor a section of the dyke appears to have been defined by both a pit alignment and ditch, centred at SE 5079 8626; whether initially a pit alignment subsequently re-cut as a ditch or as a ditch with pits along the base is unclear from the aerial photography. To the immediate north of the pit alignment the course of the dyke circumnavigates two Bronze Age round barrows (UID 57139, 57136), first to the east, then to the west. Elements of the monument appear to be extant on the latest 2009 vertical photography.
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