Enclosure and linear earthworks between Bishopstrow Down and South Down Sleight
Overview
Heritage Category: Scheduled Monument
List Entry Number: 1010283
Date first listed: 22-Jan-1990
Map
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Location
The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.
District: Wiltshire (Unitary Authority)
Parish: Bishopstrow
District: Wiltshire (Unitary Authority)
Parish: Norton Bavant
District: Wiltshire (Unitary Authority)
Parish: Warminster
National Grid Reference: ST 91942 47399
Summary
Legacy Record - This information may be included in the List Entry Details.
Reasons for Designation
The most complete and extensive survival of chalk downland
archaeological remains in central southern England occurs on Salisbury
Plain, particularly in those areas lying within the Salisbury Plain
Training Area. These remains represent one of the few extant
archaeological "landscapes" in Britain and are considered to be of
special significance because they differ in character from those in
other areas with comparable levels of preservation. Individual sites on
Salisbury Plain are seen as being additionally important because the
evidence of their direct association with each other survives so well.
Enclosures provide important evidence of land use and agricultural
practices in the prehistoric/Romano-British period. The enclosures in
the Salisbury Plain Training Area belong to one of the most important
and best preserved fossil landscapes in southern Britain. The presence
of these remains and their relationship with extensive field systems
and settlement complexes, are of critical importance to understanding
the character and development of Downland agriculture.
Boundary earthworks which include linear earthworks, so called ranch
boundaries, dykes and cross ridge dykes are particularly well preserved
in the Salisbury Plain Training Area. They provide important evidence
of prehistoric landholdings, land reorganisation and changing
agricultural practices through time.
History
Legacy Record - This information may be included in the List Entry Details.
Details
An enclosure bounded on two sides by related linear earthworks.
1 - A section of linear bank and ditch earthwork running north-west/south-east
across the ridge between Bishopstrow Down and South Down Sleight. There has
been some damage by military vehicles.
2 - A sub-rectangular earthwork enclosure measuring c.25m north-west/south-
east and 21m north-east/south-west. There are traces of a possible ditch
outside the banks which are up to 0.75m high. (ST91524747)
3 - A section of boundary ditch running south-west/north-east. It joins a
section of linear earthwork running north-west/south-east at its northern end.
It is c.5m wide and c.220m long.
MAP EXTRACT
The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract.
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
Legacy System number: 10088
Legacy System: RSM
Sources
Other
Trust for Wessex Archaeology, (1987)
Wiltshire Library & Museum Service, (1987)
Legal
This monument is scheduled under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979 as amended as it appears to the Secretary of State to be of national importance. This entry is a copy, the original is held by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport.
End of official listing