Reasons for Designation
Linear boundaries are substantial earthwork features comprising single or
multiple ditches and banks which may extend over distances varying between
less than 1km to over 10km. They survive as earthworks or as linear features
visible as cropmarks on aerial photographs or as a combination of both. The
evidence of excavation and study of associated monuments demonstrate that
their construction spans the millennium from the Middle Bronze Age, although
they may have been re-used later.
The scale of many linear boundaries has been taken to indicate that they were
constructed by large social groups and were used to mark important boundaries
in the landscape; their impressive scale displaying the corporate prestige of
their builders. They would have been powerful symbols, often with religious
associations, used to define and order the territorial holdings of those
groups who constructed them. Linear earthworks are of considerable importance
for the analysis of settlement and land use in the Bronze Age; all well
preserved examples will normally merit statutory protection.
Details
The monument includes a c.750m long section of the north Oxfordshire Grim's
Ditch running from WSW-ENE into the northern edge of Shilcott Wood on the
Ditchley Estate.
The western 350m of this section has been reduced by cultivation but survives
as a low bank and buried ditch visible on aerial photographs. The section to
the east, within Shilcott Wood, survives as a rampart bank 6m wide and up to
1.7m high. To the north of this lies a 4m wide berm and a partially infilled
ditch up to 12m wide. This ditch is visible as an open feature 0.5m deep where
it is not obscured by vegetation.
This section forms part of an outer circuit of Grim's Ditch, roughly 1km north
of the main ditch line. Excluded from the scheduling are the post and wire
fence boundaries and the metalled road surfaces which cross it, although the
ground beneath all of these features is included.
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
Legacy System number:
21858
Legacy System:
RSM
Sources
Books and journals Other
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 Culture, Media and Sport.
End of official list entry
