Monument record MDO6648 - Cross dyke on Windsbatch, Upwey, Weymouth

Cross Ridge dyke is visible as an earthwork on aerial photographs.

In the ditch along the ridge top are several 'Standing Stones" up to 0.7m high and in line. <2> Cross Ridge Dyke on Windsbatch (SY 68 NE; 65748504 to 65778517), a bank 30 ft. across and some 8 ft. above a W. ditch 30 ft. wide, is bowed slightly E. and virtually cuts off the E. end of the limestone ridge. Its S. end is on the 300 ft. contour, at the edge of a very steep slope (an apparent continuation downhill is a small boundary bank of later date built in the ditch and continuing its line); 240 ft. to the N. is a gap, probably original, 16 ft. across. A less clear length of bank running for some 90 ft. N. of this gap ends a little way down the rounded shoulder of the hill where there is much old quarry disturbance. The N. slope is only notably steep E. of the dyke, which is therefore defensive in situation as well as size. There are slight banks and scarps in the 8 acres of ridge top to the E. but the area is very disturbed. <4> The cross ridge dyke is as described by RCHM <4>. The seven stones standing above ground in the ditch are possibly part of the modern boundary aspect of the complex. Re-surveyed at 1:2500 on MSD. <5> Visible as an earthwork on aerial photographs <7>. The site was digitally plotted during the South Dorset Ridgeway Mapping Project.

Record last edited

Jun 24 2022 2:59PM