Cross dyke on West Harting Down, 650m south west of Foxcombe 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.

Despite some disturbance by a later track, the cross dyke on West Harting Down survives well and will retain archaeological remains and environmental evidence relating to the construction and original purpose of the monument.

Details

The monument includes a north east-south west aligned cross dyke constructed across a chalk ridge which forms part of the Sussex Downs. The c.270m long cross dyke has a ditch up to c.7m wide and 0.5m deep, flanked to the east by a bank up to c.5m wide and 0.4m high. A short stretch of the central section of the earthworks has been levelled by the construction and use of a downland track which runs along the ridge, although the ditch will survive here as a buried feature. At either end of the cross dyke the earthworks gradually fade out as the ground slopes away.

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:

29276

Legacy System:

RSM

End of official list entry

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