Reasons for Designation
Linear boundaries are substantial earthwork features comprising single or multiple ditches and banks which may extend over distances of less than 1km to over 10km. They survive as earthworks or as linear features visible as cropmarks on aerial photographs or as a combination of both. The evidence of excavation and study of associated monuments demonstrate that their construction spans the millennium from the Middle Bronze Age, although they may have been reused later. The scale of many linear boundaries has been taken to indicate that they were constructed by large social groups and were used to mark important boundaries in the landscape; their impressive scale displaying the corporate prestige of their builders. They would have been powerful symbols, often with religious associations, used to define and order the territorial holdings of those groups who constructed them. Linear earthworks are of considerable importance for the analysis of settlement and land use in the Bronze Age. The part of a linear boundary 590m north of Noade's Leaze Farm survives well and will contain archaeological and environmental evidence relating to its construction, date, function, maintenance, territorial significance, social organisation of the builders, longevity, adaptive re-use and overall landscape context. Its possible re-use during the Civil War adds to its interest.
Details
The monument, which falls into two areas of protection, includes part of a linear boundary situated at the summit of a prominent ridge, called Freezing Hill, overlooking the steep valley of a tributary to the River Boyd. The linear boundary, which survives differentially along its approximately 550m length, is visible as a bank measuring up to 7.3m wide and 0.6m high with a partially-buried ditch of up to 7.3m wide and 2.7m deep. It is bisected by a more recent parish boundary bank and ditch which is excluded from the scheduling. The boundary is of prehistoric origin and is documented in Anglo-Saxon charters as the 'eald dic' or old dyke which indicates its already great age by the early medieval period. It is also recorded as 'Royal Camp' on Taylor's 1777 map, and has often been referred to as a military English Civil War earthwork connected with the Battle of Lansdown of 1643 and indeed it does lie within the Registered Battlefield (18). However, it is likely the earthwork was re-used rather than specifically built in this later period.
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
Legacy System number:
SG 65
Legacy System:
RSM - OCN
End of official list entry
