Section of the Cleave Dyke system known as Hesketh Dike and Silver Hill round barrow

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 Cleave Dyke system is an almost complete section extending from the scarp edge to the valley head. For much of the length it survives as a well preserved earthwork and, although it has been reduced by agricultural activity, significant archaeological evidence will be retained throughout the monument. The Boltby to Hawnby Road and the Hambleton Road are both considered to be ancient routes and those places where they pass through the line of the dyke will retain important information about their relationship to the dyke. Round barrows are funerary monuments dating from the Late Neolithic period to the Late Bronze Age. They were constructed as earthen or rubble mounds, sometimes ditched, which covered single or multiple burials. Often occupying prominent locations, they are a major historic element in the modern landscape and provide important information on the diversity of beliefs and social organisations amongst early prehistoric communities. Silver Hill round barrow survives well, and significant information about the original form, burials placed within it and evidence of earlier land use beneath the mound will be preserved. It is known to have been constructed before the dyke, and in common with other similar round barrows on the Hambleton Hills, is thought to mark an early boundary. There are similar associations of barrows and linear earthworks in other parts of North Yorkshire. Such groupings of monuments offer important scope for the study of the division of land for social, ritual and agricultural purposes in different geographical areas during the prehistoric period.

Details

The monument includes a section of prehistoric linear boundary known as the Hesketh Dike which incorporates an earlier round barrow. It is part of a wider system of such linear boundaries known as the Cleave Dyke. Hesketh Dike extends for 1000m eastward from the scarp edge of the Hambleton Hills to the head of Sledhill Gill. To the east of the Hawnby Road the dyke comprises two sections of earthworks meeting at and overlying the west and east flanks of the round barrow situated 100m east of the road. The eastern section extends for 650m and has a ditch up to 6m wide and 1m deep between two flanking banks up to 7m wide and between 0.8m and 1.5m high. At the east end only the ditch is visible as an earthwork. West of the barrow the dyke has a single bank 15m wide and between 0.8m and 2m high with a ditch up to 6m wide. The ditch is a continuous feature common to both sections of earthworks which crosses the northern edge of the barrow. At the western end of this section, the dyke is truncated by the road although the ditch is preserved beneath the road surface. To the west of the road only the ditch is visible as an earthwork which extends for a further 60m to the west where it is truncated by the trackway known as the Hambleton Road. There is a 5m length of bank and ditch at the west verge of the Hambleton Road. The western section of the dyke beyond the Hambleton Road has been reduced by agricultural activity and although it is no longer identifiable as an earthwork, it is clearly visible on aerial photographs. The east end is the original termination of the Hesketh Dike but at the west end the dyke originally extended for a further 20m but this end has since been altered by forest plantation, is no longer clearly identifiable, and is not included in the scheduling. Silver Hill round barrow has a well-defined mound standing 1.5m high. It is round in shape and 18m in diameter. There is a hollow in the centre of the mound resulting from a part excavation in 1864. The mound was surrounded by a ditch up to 3m wide which is no longer visible as an earthwork. Hesketh Dike is part of a wider system of prehistoric linear earthworks and earlier round barrows extending for 9km north-south along the western edge of the Hambleton Hills. They provide evidence of territorial organisation marking the division of land; divisions which still remain as some parish or township boundaries. The surfaces of the road and the track and the stone walls are excluded from the scheduling, although the ground beneath is included.

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:

24454

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, Vol. BAR 104, (1993)
Spratt, D A, Prehistoric and Roman Archaeology of North East Yorkshire in Prehistoric and Roman Archaeology of North East Yorkshire, (1992), 134-141
Spratt, D A, Prehistoric and Roman Archaeology of North East Yorkshire in Prehistoric and Roman Archaeology of North East Yorkshire, (1992), 134-141
Spratt, D A, The Archaeological Journal in The Cleave Dyke System, (1982), 33-52
Spratt, D A, The Archaeological Journal in The Cleave Dyke System, (1982)

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