Monument record MDO1525 - Cross dyke or field boundary on Long Barrow Hill, Long Bredy

A curved bank of uncertain origin. The feature has been interpreted as a Bronze Age cross dyke although Ordnance Survey surveyors considered it more likely to be a post medieval field boundary.

A dyke running in a NW-SE direction for about 250 yds across the ridge. The bank is 16 ft wide and 1 ft high, with a ditch on the NE side. <2>

A bank and ditch earthwork which crosses the ridge and runs down the S slope. It is not defensive; the bank is now low and spread, 0.3m wide; the ditch on its E side small, 2.0m wide and 0.3m deep.

The small size of this earthwork does not suggest a form of cross-ridge dyke but a comparatively modern boundary bank. It appears particularly so when viewed from 1/2 mile to the south. <3>

A modern bdy. bank. <4>

A curved bank of uncertain origin. The feature has been interpreted as a Bronze Age cross dyke although Ordnance Survey surveyors considered it more likely to be a post medieval field boundary. The feature is visible as an earthwork and cropmark on aerial photographs. <8>

<1> Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey Map 6in, 1903 (Map). SWX1540.

[SY 57119103] DYKE [OE]

<2> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments England, 1952, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume I (West), 42 (Monograph). SDO97.

‘(18) DYKE about 20 yards S.W. of the end of the bank barrow (8) and running approximately N.W. to S.E. The bank is about 16 ft. in width and 1 ft. high; it has a ditch on the N.E. side and curves slightly to the S. It extends for about 250 yards across a ridge.’

<3> Quinnell, N V, Various, Field Investigators Comments NVQ, F1 NVQ 02-MAY-55 (Unpublished document). SDO11903.

<4> Colquhoun, F D, Field Investigators Comments FDC, F2 FDC 05-MAY-55 (Unpublished document). SWX2609.

<5> Papworth, M, 1983, The South Dorset Ridgeway Project: condition and management survey, SDR 731 (Index). SDO12304.

Ditch well defined at NW end, with scarp on NE side but overlain by modern fence in centre portion. 1.5m-2.0m wide, 0.3m deep, bank on SW side. See AM107 for further details. In permanent pasture. 1/2/B

<6> Ordnance Survey, 1980s, Ordnance Survey 1:2500 map, epoch six (Map). SDO13933.

EARTHWORKS [OE]

<7> McOmish, D and Tuck, C, 2000, Long Bredy Bank Barrow, Long Bredy, Dorset (Unpublished document). SDO16431.

<8> 02-APR-1969, NMR OS/69053 012-3 (Aerial Photograph). SDO11106.

<9> National Record of the Historic Environment, 451062 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Aug 25 2023 11:22AM