Monument record MDO830 - Cross dyke on Lyscombe Hill, Cheselbourne

Earthwork bank and ditch cross-dyke, now in two sections but probably originally a single monument.

Cross-Dyke, comprising two sections, probably connected. The first section (a) runs SW-NE. (72960157-73070170) for 200 yds, from the crest of the spur on the parish boundary with Piddletrenthide, down a gentle slope, and ends well short of the shoulder of the spur. It consists of a main bank on the SE side with a ditch uphill and a slighter bank beyond. The main bank, 21 ft across, increases in height downhill from 2 ft to 10 ft. A later bank straddled by trees runs along its top. The ditch is 12 ft wide, flat-bottomed and 2 3/4 ft below the bank. The slighter bank on the NW is up to 20 ft across. A gap near the centre may be original but the dyke appears to block a double-lynchet track associated with 'Celtic' fields. The increase in height of the main bank downhill indicates that it is built on a 'Celtic' field edge, and a 'Celtic' field continues its line NE to the shoulder of the spur. Air photographs suggest that the dyke formerly continued SW for some 50 yds and then, making a right-angled turn NW, joined the second section of the dyke (b) (72860160), which runs NW for 46 yds across the head of a gulley. The bank, which is on the SW side, is 22 ft wide and 5 1/2 ft high; the ditch, which is disturbed, is 27ft wide at the SE and narrows towards the NW. There is a gap 24 ft wide near the S end. <1-2> ST 72840162 & ST 72960158 to ST 73090173. The two sections of cross dyke remain as described by RCHM <1>. Surveyed at 1:2500 on MSDs ST 72/7301. <3>

Record last edited

Jan 24 2022 1:12PM