Cross dyke 330m north west of Whiteways Lodge

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.

Although it has been partly disturbed by subsequent activities, the cross dyke at Whiteways survives comparatively well and will retain archaeological remains and environmental evidence relating to the construction and original use of the monument.

Details

The monument includes part of a east-west aligned cross dyke constructed across a chalk ridge which forms part of the Sussex Downs. The 150m long earthworks consist of a large ditch up to about 10m wide and 1.2m deep flanked to the south by a bank up to 8m wide and 0.7m high. A short section of the earthworks near the eastern end of the monument has been partly disturbed and levelled by a modern track which runs along the ridge. Records suggest that the cross dyke originally continued further across the ridge at either end of the monument, but the earthworks have here been levelled by modern ploughing and forestry operations, and this area is therefore not included in the scheduling.

MAP EXTRACT The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract.

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

29286

Legacy System:

RSM

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