Monument record MDO6072 - The Angle Ditch, Handley Down, Sixpenny Handley

Bronze Age ditch excavated by Pitt-Rivers. This feature has been interpreted as two sides of the boundary of a settlement.

Plan of the enclosure. <4> The site was visited by MPPA (undated). In view of the apparent incomplete nature of the site, the limited understanding of the monument and the extensive degradation of the site by ploughing, it was not recommended for scheduling. Ground photo with archive report. <5> A length of ditch of Middle Bronze Age date discovered and excavated in October 1893 by Pitt Rivers. The ditch runs for a total length of 68.6 metres, and includes a near right-angled turn. Prior to excavation, the site had not been visible as a surface feature. The ditch averaged 2 metres in depth. No trace of an accompanying bank was observed. Area excavations failed to identify any post-built structures associated with the ditch. However, this was also the case at nearby South Lodge, where Pitt-Rivers and his labourers largely failed to notice structures which only came to light during re-excavation in the late 1970s by Barrett and Bradley. It seems likely therefore that the Angle Ditch represents either a partially enclosed settlement, or a partially ditched enclosure (see, for example, the nearby Down Farm enclosure SU 01 SW 84). Like South Lodge, the ditch appears to run around the corner of an earlier field plot (integrated within field system SU 01 NW 71). Pitt Rivers' surface trenching recovered pottery and flint in variable quantities across the area examined, including some notable concentrations. The ditch also contained pottery, metalwork and other finds of Middle Bronze Age date. The upper fill of the ditch included some Roman pottery, and Roman sherds also occurred in a surface scatter in the vicinity. The Angle Ditch itself is also cut by a later ditch which also appears to form part of a larger irregular enclosure surrounding Wor Barrow (SU 01 NW 14) and a couple of round barrows (SU 01 NW 13 and 15). The purpose of this larger enclosure appears to have been to demarcate an unploughed area around Wor Barrow. <6>

Record last edited

Feb 15 2023 7:27AM