Monument record MDO98 - Cross dyke on Askerswell Down, Askerswell

A dyke which cuts across the ridge, and consists of a bank with a ditch on the E. side. There are various other scarps and banks of minor importance. <1>

A bank and ditch cross-dyke 160.0m long, broken by a modern main road. The bank averages 8.5m wide and 1.0m. high, and the ditch on the E. side 4.5m. wide and 0.7m deep; S of the road the ditch is 8.0m wide. On the N. side of the road the bank has been mutilated by various small diggings of apparently modern, date.

The earthwork is analagous to the IA cross ridge dykes common in DORSET, and is set within an IA/RB field system. It is clearly visible on AP CPE/UK/2431/3154 [Extending from SY 53649199 to SY 53709211] <2>

The cross dykes are visible as earthworks on aerial photographs. <4>

<1> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments England, 1952, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume I (West), 15 (Monograph). SDO97.

'(15) EARTHWORKS on the S. edge of the parish nearly 1m. E.S.E. of the church, consist of two dykes and a third dyke about 650 yards to the W. cutting across the ridge. All three dykes extend S. into Litton Cheney parish. They run across the road on Askerswell Down. The two eastern dykes extend for some 150 to 200 yards and are about 100 yards apart; they have ditches on the outward side, towards the E. and W. respectively. The third dyke has the ditch on the E. side. There are various other scarps and banks of minor importance.'

<2> Quinnell, N V, Various, Field Investigators Comments NVQ, F1 NVQ 02-MAY-55 (Unpublished document). SDO11903.

<3> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1957, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1956, 84-5 (Serial). SDO56.

<4> Royal Air Force, 22-JAN-1948, RAF/CPE/UK/2431 3153-4 (Aerial Photograph). SDO11406.

<5> Royal Commission on Historic Monuments, Externally held archive: RCH01/088 RCHME Inventory: Dorset I (West) and Revision (Unpublished document). SDO17367.

<6> National Record of the Historic Environment, 451504 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Aug 24 2023 7:56PM