Reasons for Designation
A pit alignment is a linear arrangement of fairly closely-spaced circular or
rectangular holes or pits over 1m in diameter. Some examples are several
kilometres long and some occur as part of a more complex linear earthwork
including linear ditches, slots, palisades and linear banks. Once dug, the
pits were left as open features which eroded and silted up over a period of
time. Nearly all pit alignments have been discovered from aerial photography
and survive as cropmarks or soil marks. They are largely found in river
valleys in central and northern England but they are also common on the
Yorkshire Wolds and are found in smaller numbers on other light, freely
draining soils. Pit alignments probably formed boundaries. Where excavated
they usually appear to be prehistoric in date, although examples are also
known from the Roman period. All examples surviving as earthworks are
considered to merit protection.
On the North York Moors several pit alignments have been identified with
surviving earthworks. These examples have been found to have a low bank on
either side of the line of pits and have been termed embanked pit alignments
(EPA). The EPA 130m south and 310m SSE of Jingleby House is in a good state of
preservation. Despite limited disturbance, significant information about the
date and original form of the monument will be preserved. Important
environmental evidence will survive within the waterlogged pit fills and
evidence for earlier land use will survive beneath the banks.
The eastern Tabular Hills is an area which has many networks of prehistoric
land boundaries. These are thought to represent systems of territorial land
division which were constructed to augment natural divisions of the landscape
by river valleys and watersheds. The Dalby Forest and Scamridge areas have a
particular concentration which is thought to have originated in the Late
Neolithic or Early Bronze Age, earlier than most other prehistoric boundary
systems on the Tabular Hills. The networks within this concentration, and many
of their component boundaries, are notably complex and are of considerable
importance for understanding the development of later prehistoric society in
eastern Yorkshire.
This EPA is part of the system of boundaries dividing the area between
Troutsdale in the south and the scarp edge of the Tabular Hills in the north.
It lies close to a complex of similar EPAs which have been identified through
survey work as the earliest boundaries in this area. The relationships of this
monument with these boundaries and with the burial monuments in the landscape
surrounding them are important for understanding the chronological development
of land division during the later prehistoric period.
Details
The monument includes a pit alignment which is situated in Dalby Forest,
towards the northern edge of the Tabular Hills. The alignment runs SSE to NNW
between the heads of Troutsdale and Worry Gill, curving more to the north west
at the northern end. It is divided into two parts by the Dalby Forest Drive
which cuts across it towards its northern end; the monument therefore has two
areas of protection.
The pit alignment is of the type known as an embanked pit alignment. It has a
line of regularly-spaced and well-defined sub-circular pits, which are flanked
by two parallel banks of earth and stone. The pits average 2m in diameter and
0.3m-0.5m in depth, but a few have eroded up to 3.5m in diameter and up to
2.2m in depth. They are spaced 3m-4m apart, centre to centre. Towards the
southern end of the pit alignment, most of the pits are waterlogged. The banks
each have a shallow rounded profile and are 2m-3m wide. They stand up to 0.7m
high, although they are no more than 0.3m high in places where they have been
damaged by forestry activities. The earthworks have an overall maximum
diameter of 10m. The pit alignment is truncated at the northern and southern
ends by an old footpath and a modern trackway respectively. The northern part
is also breached by an unsurfaced forestry track. There is a further breach to
the immediate south of the Dalby Forest Drive.
The monument forms part of a network of prehistoric linear boundaries which
are surrounded by many other prehistoric monuments, particularly burials.
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
Legacy System number:
34683
Legacy System:
RSM
Sources
Books and journals Other
Legal
This monument is scheduled under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979 as amended as it appears to the Secretary of State to be of national importance. This entry is a copy, the original is held by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.
End of official list entry
