Cross dyke on Woolavington Down, 600m south of Lavington House

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 suffered some disturbance, the cross dyke on Woolavington Down 600m south of Lavington House survives comparatively well and will retain archaeological and environmental evidence relating to its construction and original purpose. The cross dyke forms part of a group of linear earthworks and round barrows which cluster along this part of the downland ridge. These monuments are broadly contemporary and their close association will provide evidence for the relationship between land division and funerary practices during the later prehistoric period.

Details

The monument includes a NNE-SSW aligned cross dyke constructed across a chalk ridge which forms part of the Sussex Downs. The 234m long dyke has a ditch up to about 6m wide and 0.3m deep flanked to the north west by a bank up to 5m wide and 0.6m high. Three short sections of the earthworks have been levelled by modern tracks, and the ditch will survive here as a buried feature. The earthworks gradually fade out at either end of the dyke as the ground falls 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:

29289

Legacy System:

RSM

End of official list entry

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