More information : (Names at SU 075 649 and SU 078 649) Ditch (NR). (1)
A bank and ditch, with tributary ditch on Tan Hill, shown on OS 6"
extending from (approx SU 0739 6490 to SU 0846 6504). A southerly
extension at its eastern extremity, not shown on sheet, but visible
on air-photographs, extends to (approximately SU 0863 6480). Earlier
than Wansdyke which overlaps it.
Grinsell gives the total length of the ditch as 2300 yards and
mentions that it is twice overlapped by Wansdyke.
Iron Age and Romano-British sherds have been found in the ditch, and
a skeleton was discovered in 1952 while digging a gun-site, SU 0775
6510, but there was no evidence to indicate its dating. (2-5)
SU 0736 6490 to SU 0860 6488. A linear ditch, 1.5m deep with a bank
up to 0.8m high on the downhill side where best preserved, the whole
averages 12.0m in overall width. In several places the ditch and bank
have collapsed to form a terrace on the hillside. The feature follows
roughly the 800ft contour, and is some 1450m in length. At SU 0818
6515, the ditch is crossed and overlaid by Wansdyke.
At SU 0809 6516, a branch of the ditch with a bank on the E, runs
down hill to the N for 120.0m where Wansdyke is then superimposed on
its alignment. At SU 0772 6504, a cross-ridge dyke (SU 06 SE 42)
extending to the S joins the ditch, but it is not now possible to
determine their chronological relationship. The bank and ditch are
probably a boundary feature of BA/IA origin. Resurveyed at 1:2500. (6)
The probable prehistoric boundary, described by the previous
authorities, has been mapped from air photographs. The `tributary'
or `cross ridge dyke' described above, and in SU 06 SE 42, appears to
form a part of the boundary. These boundaries, and more possible
boundaries to the south and west, described in SU 06 SE 30 and 40,
possibly form part of a system across Tan Hill. (7)
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