Monument record MDO710 - Cross dyke on Giant Hill, Cerne Abbas

A linear earthwork bank and ditch across the ridge at Giant Hill. The bank is around 5 metres wide and about 1.2 metres high, and the ditch lies on the north side of the bank. The middle of the earthwork is crossed by a modern trackway. The feature is visible as earthworks on 1940s aerial photographs and Environment Agency lidar imagery and was digitally plotted during the Dorset Upper Cerne and Piddle Valleys AIM project.

A grass-covered earthwork consisting of a bank which averages 5.0m wide and 1.2m high, with a ditch on the north side which averages 4.0m wide and 0.5m deep. The height of the bank and the depth of the ditch vary considerably along its length. Not defensive but of the cross-ridge type, possibly associated with the dykes at the settlement to the north (ST 60 SE 28). <3>

This E-W cross-ridge dyke remains much as described. It consists of an earthen bank, up to 1.1m high, with a ditch on its northern side up to 0.8m deep. A modern N-S trackway overlies the earthwork approx. midway along its length and a second possibly earlier causewayed break lies 20.0m from the W end. 1:2500 Revision on MSD. <4>

The feature is visible as earthworks on 1940s aerial photographs and on Environment Agency lidar imagery and was digitally plotted during the Dorset Upper Cerne and Piddle Valleys AIM project. <6, 7>

<1> Ordnance Survey, c 1962, Ordnance Survey 1:2500 map, epoch five (Map). SDO13903.

ST 66730188 to ST 66810184) Ditch (NR)

<2> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments England, 1952, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume I (West), 82 (Monograph). SDO97.

‘(30) Bank and Barrow about 200 yards N. of (29). The bank extends for about 100 yards across the ridgetop; it is at most about 4½ ft. high and has a modern gap near the middle. There is a slight ditch on the N. side. The bowl barrow, immediately to the S. of the bank, is about 35 ft. in diam. and 4 ft. high.’

<3> Quinnell, N V, Various, Field Investigators Comments NVQ, 03-FEB-55 (Unpublished document). SDO11903.

<4> Barrett, G, Various, Field Investigators Comments GB, F1 GB 06-JUL-77 (Unpublished document). SDO17369.

<5> National Record of the Historic Environment, 199010 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

<6> Royal Air Force, 11-APR-1947, RAF/CPE/UK/1974 FS 2375 (Aerial Photograph). SDO20736.

<7> Environment Agency, 16-NOV-2021, LIDAR Environment Agency DTM (Aerial Photograph). SDO18034.

Record last edited

Aug 19 2024 4:38PM