More information : (Earthwork TF 89430510 - 89310544) "Called 'Devil's Dyke'
on MOW scheduled list and 'Intrenchment' on 1st ed OS 1". South
of the road, no bank, ploughed down. Field ditch may be on line of
old ditch. North of the road, no bank for 8 paces; no traces
northward beyond TF 89310544. D" (1 & 2)
This feature is a linear earthwork, ditched, or once ditched, on
the west. South of the road it survives only in vestigial form for
a short stretch as a field boundary, and it terminates at the north
at an east-west hedgerow. No traces could be seen in the arable
field beyond. The purpose and period of construction of this work
cannot be determined. Surveyed at 1:2500 (3)
An examination of the 1581, 1779, 1786 and undated 18th century maps of the area, together with an RAF 1946 vertical photograph has led to reinterpretation of the ditched. The ditch is now recorded as extending from TF 89470579 to TF 90370425. It seems likely that the southern section of the dyke constituted the feature referred to as 'Rowdych' in 1373 and 1419, and as 'Rowdike' in 1590, and in a survey at c1610, but this cannot yet be established with certainty. Its function is enigmatic (3).
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