A cross-ridge dyke and part of an adjoining cross-ridge dyke meeting at Juggs Road near Falmer Bottom

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 monument survives well and will retain archaeological remains and evironmental evidence relating to the monument and the landscape in which it was constructed. Its significance is enhanced by its proximity to nearby Bronze Age burial mounds.

Details

The monument comprises a cross-ridge dyke and part of an adjoining cross-ridge dyke, surviving as earthworks, which meet at the top of a hill at Juggs Road. The cross-ridge dyke runs for about 200m north-south between Falmer Bottom and the top of the hill near Juggs Road. At the top of the hill it meets part of another cross-ridge dyke which survives as an earthwork running about 75m towards the upper part of Falmer Bottom to the south-west and Cold Coombes to the north-east. Aerial photographs show the dyke as continuing beyond the earthworks as a below-ground feature but these levelled remains are not included in the scheduling at present.

The north-south running dyke includes a well defined bank on the eastern side, a ditch in the middle and a much lower bank on the western side. The maximum height of the eastern bank above the base of the ditch is about 0.75-1.0m.

The north-east/south-west running dyke includes a ditch to the north, and a flanking bank to the south, which joins with the banks of the other dyke and is interrupted by the latter's ditch. The bank of this cross-ridge dyke is also about 0.75m above the base of the ditch.

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:

23601

Legacy System:

RSM

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