Cross dyke 850m WSW of Baysdale Farm

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.

This section of dyke is well preserved as an earthwork and significant archaeological remains will be retained within the bank and ditch. The dyke is part of a wider system of boundaries and enclosures in this area of the North York Moors. Together they provide an insight into the division and use of the landscape during the prehistoric period.

Details

The monument includes a cross dyke of prehistoric date extending for 200m north west to south east across a ridge on Battersby Moor. The dyke is constructed of stone and earth and is crossed at its centre by a modern trackway. To the north west of the track the dyke has a bank up to 1m high and 5m wide with a ditch to its south up to 2m wide. To the south east of the track the bank is discontinous and in places only the stone core is visible whilst the ditch has been filled in over the years and is no longer visible as an earthwork. To the north west the dyke ends in an area of marshy ground. To the south east the dyke ends at a modern drainage ditch. Both ends of the monument are thought to be the original terminations of the dyke. The section of the dyke ditch lying to the north west of the track has been recut in modern times.

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:

28233

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

Books and journals
Spratt, D A, Prehistoric and Roman Archaeology in North East Yorkshire in Prehistoric and Roman Archaeology of North East Yorkshire, (1993)

End of official list entry

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