Pit alignment forming part of the Cleave Dyke system 1000m north west of Dialstone Farm

Reasons for Designation

The Cleave Dyke System is the most westerly of a series of dyke systems on the Tabular Hills of north east Yorkshire. The name has been given to a series of linear ditches and banks stretching north-south over 9km parallel with and close to the western scarp of the Hambleton Hills. The system was constructed between the Late Bronze Age and the Iron Age to augment the natural division of the terrain by river valleys and watersheds. Significant stretches remain visible as upstanding earthworks; elsewhere it can be recognised as a cropmark on aerial photographs. The system formed a prehistoric territorial boundary in an area largely given over to pastoralism; the impressive scale of the earthworks displays the corporate prestige of their builders. In some instances the boundaries have remained in use to the present day. Linear boundaries are of considerable importance for the analysis of settlement and land use in the later prehistoric period; all well preserved examples will normally merit statutory protection.

This section of the dyke system is preserved as a short section of pit alignment. It lies south west of the main north to south dyke and is thought to be the remains of a marker for a subdivision of the territory. The pits demonstrate a high degree of preservation and significant archaeological information will be retained within them.

Details

The monument includes a pit alignment on the western edge of Hambleton Down visible on aerial photographs. It forms part of the Cleave Dyke boundary system. There are two roughly parallel, short rows of pits 2m apart. There are five pits in the west row and only four clearly visible in the east row. They are up to 1m in diameter and 1m apart. This pit alignment is part of a wider prehistoric boundary system known as the Cleave Dyke. This more usually took the form of a continuous earthwork bank and ditch. The reasons for the use of different types of construction are not yet fully understood. They are all considered to be contemporary. This system of boundaries, stretching along the Hambleton Hills, divided the terrain into discrete units for agricultural and social purposes. The dyke is also associated with earlier round barrows which formed territorial divisions. Together the monuments in this area provide important evidence of territorial organisation and the development of settled agricultural practices.

MAP EXTRACT The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract. It includes a 2 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:

25565

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

Books and journals
Spratt, D A, The Yorkshire Archaeological Journal in The Cleave Dyke System, Vol. YAJ 54, (1992), 33-53

Other
ANY 169/06,

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