Cross dyke on Woolavington Down, 475m north east of Tegleaze 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 subsequent disturbance the cross dyke on Woolavington Down 475m north east of Tegleaze Farm survives comparatively well and will retain archaeological remains and environmental evidence relating to the monument and the landscape in which it was constructed. The cross dyke forms part of a group of linear earthworks and round barows 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 north east-south west aligned cross dyke constructed across a chalk ridge which forms part of the Sussex Downs. The cross dyke survives as a low bank up to c.3m wide and c.0.5m high, two short sections of which have been levelled by modern trackways. Records suggest that each side of the bank is flanked by a ditch up to c.2m wide. These have become infilled by regular modern ploughing and will survive as below ground archaeological features. The cross dyke may have originally continued further across the ridge to the south west of the monument, but any earthworks will have here been levelled by subsequent agricultural 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. 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:

29291

Legacy System:

RSM

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