Cross dyke and hut platform on the summit of The Lawley, 100m south west of OS trig pillar.

Reasons for Designation

Cross dykes are substantial linear earthworks typically between 0.2km and 1km long and comprising one or more ditches arranged beside and parallel to one or more banks. They generally occur in upland situations, running across ridges and spurs. They are recognised as earthworks or as cropmarks on aerial photographs, or as combinations of both. The evidence of excavation and analogy with associated monuments demonstrates that their construction spans the millennium from the Middle Bronze Age, although they may have been re-used later. Current information favours the view that they were used as territorial boundary markers, probably demarcating land allotment within communities, although they may also have been used as trackways, cattle droveways or defensive earthworks. Cross dykes are one of the few monument types which illustrate how land was divided up in the prehistoric period. They are of considerable importance for any analysis of settlement and land use in the Bronze Age. Very few have survived to the present day and hence all well- preserved examples are considered to be of national importance.

The cross dyke on the summit of The Lawley survives well and is a good example of its class. The interior of the site shows evidence of a hut platform and will contain archaeological evidence relating to the occupation of the site. Environmental evidence, important to an understanding of the landscape into which the site was built and functioned, will survive on the ancient landsurfaces sealed beneath the banks and in the ditch fills. The monument is one of two probably related sites on The Lawley and one of several such sites which occur in similar situations in this area of upland. Such monuments, when considered both singly and as a group, contribute valuable information pertaining to the density of settlement and the nature of land use of this area of upland during the Bronze Age and Iron Age.

Details

The monument includes the remains of a cross dyke and a hut platform situated on the summit of The Lawley, a north east to south west orientated ridge of high ground. The earthworks include a well defined cross dyke, approximately 100m to the south west of the OS trig pillar. The dyke curves across the ridge top from north west to south east as a well defined and partly rock cut ditch 6m wide and 1.2m deep. The ditch is flanked along its south west edge by a bank 0.6m high and along its north east edge by a bank 0.9m high. The ditch and banks extend for approximately 50m before fading out on the precipitous side slopes of the hill. Extending south westwards, from the ends of the dyke, the natural hillslope has been artificially steepened to create a boundary scarp averaging 2m high, fading into the natural hillslope towards the OS trig pillar. Access across the dyke is believed to have been around its southern end. Towards the northern end of the site, scooped out of the south east facing slope is a shallow oval platform measuring 11m by 7m and believed to be the site of an early building.

MAP EXTRACT The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract. It includes a 4 metre boundary around the archaeological features, considered to be essential for the monument's support and preservation.

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

19170

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

Other
OS card no SO49NE28, Phillips, A S, (1979)
OS card no SO49N28, Phillips, A S, (1979)

End of official list entry

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