Monument record MDO3492 - Linear dyke on Owermoigne Heath, Crossways

An earthwork bank and ditch running roughly north south along the western edge of a slight plateau. This monument was described in 1970 as being around 270 feet long with the bank about 18 feet wide and the ditch 14 feet wide, with a modern break at the centre. Evidence from aerial photographs suggests that this monument was once longer, as the bank and ditch of the present field boundary follow the line of the earthwork in places. In 1989 construction of a pipeline cut a section through the field boundary and revealed that the present shallow field bank and ditch was preceded by a substantial, V-profiled ditch. No dating evidence was recovered from the ditch fills.

An earthwork bank and ditch running roughly north south along the western edge of a slight plateau. This monument was described in 1970 as being around 270 feet long with the bank about 18 feet wide and the ditch 14 feet wide, with a modern break at the centre. Evidence from aerial photographs suggests that this monument was once longer, as the bank and ditch of the present field boundary follow the line of the earthwork in places. In 1989 construction of a pipeline cut a section through the field boundary and revealed that the present shallow field bank and ditch was preceded by a substantial, V-profiled ditch. No dating evidence was recovered from the ditch fills. (1, 3-5)

A section of the possible dyke described above in (1, 3-5) is visible as an earthwork on aerial photographs of the 1940s. The line of the earthwork appears to continue to the south, preserved in the extant field boundaries. The earthwork consists of a ditch flanked by banks, measuring approximately 190 m in length. (6) The dyke is not visible as an upstanding earthwork on the most recent comprehensive aerial coverage available to the project. (7) This site was digitally plotted as part of the Wild Purbeck Mapping Project.

Linear Dyke, on Owermoigne Heath (SY 78138790 - ?78058769). In an area scarred by gravel quarrying a bank and ditch are aligned N-S along W edge of a low plateau sloping gently southwards at about 150ft above OD. The subsoil is Bagshot Beds now with a thick scrub cover. The dyke is 270ft long, with a modern break near the centre; its ditch, on the W side is 14ft across, its bank 18t rising from 6ft to 8ft above the ditch bottom. The S end has been destroyed by quarrying but in a field immediately S of this and ploughed almost flat, are traces of a bank and ditch, the ditch on the W side, extending SSE for about 250ft. (1)

Partially visible on air photographs as a ploughed down bank and ditch at SY 78078774. (6)

SY 78128789-SY 78138784. A scarp 50.0m long with maximum height 2.3m, and a ditch 0.4m deep on west side.
SY 78108778-SY 78058768. A bank approximately 110.0m long part in woodland and part in grass field, 8.0m wide and up to 0.5m high; no visible ditch. The dyke alignment can be further traced in a southwesterly direction as an air photograph soil mark (6) to SY 78018759; thence it continues for 500 metres to SY 77828713 as a strong hedge-bank, on average 3.5m wide and 1.5m high, (depicted as double-line detail on OS 25" 1960); it terminates at a small canalised river in low marshy ground. The earthwork appears to be a probable boundary - demarcation feature of uncertain period.
Surveyed at 1:2500 on MSD. (2)

<1> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume II (South East) Part 3, 518 (Monograph). SDO150.

‘(37) LINEAR DYKE, on Owermoigne Heath (SY 78 NE; 78138790-?78058769). In an area scarred by gravel quarrying a bank and ditch are aligned N.-S. along the W. edge of a low plateau sloping gently southwards at about 150 ft. above O.D. The subsoil is Bagshot Beds, now with a thick scrub cover. The dyke is 270 ft. long, with a modern break near the centre; its ditch, on the W. side, is 14 ft. across, its bank 18 ft., rising from 6 ft. to 8 ft. above the ditch bottom. The S. end has been destroyed by quarrying but in a field immediately S. of this, and ploughed almost flat, are traces of a bank and ditch, the ditch on the W. side, extending S.S.E for about 250 ft.’

<2> Barton, J G, Various, Field Investigators Comments JGB, F1 JGB 02-JAN-80 (Unpublished document). SDO11900.

<3> Smith, R J C and Trott, M R, 1989, East-West Dorset Link Main, Wessex Water Engineering Services; evaluation (Unpublished document). SDO179.

'Earthwork at SY77948747.
The large boundary bank and ditch dividing plots 28 and 29 may form a continuation of an earthwork further to the north in Brownjohn Plantation. The earthwork where it is crossed by the pipeline consists of a large bank and ditch on the western side. The bank is slightly variable in height and overgrown with scrub, but was up to c1.5m high and 4m side with the ditch about 1m deep and 1.5m wide. As this feature survived as an earthwork it was not examined by auguring. The boreholes in the plots to either side of the earthwork, in plots 28 and 29, did not suggest that the feature extended beyond the area of the surviving earthwork.'

<4> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1990, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1989, 111 (Serial). SDO89.

<5> Smith, R J C, 1990, Archaeological Observations on the Route of the East-West Dorset Link Main 1989 (Unpublished document). SDO180.

‘Observation 5: SY 77938744 (Fig.1).
Evidence from air photographs has suggested that the undated linear dyke on Owermoigne Heath, in Brownjohn’s Plantation (RCHM 1970, 518) continues some distance to the south of this surviving portion of earthwork. The pipeline route crossed a surviving field boundary bank and ditch (SY 77938744) that was presumed to correspond to the continuation of this monument to the south of Tinker’s Barrow. Observations during construction indicated that the present field bank survived to a width of 3m and a height of at least 0.6m. On the western side of the bank, the present shallow field ditch, was shown to have been preceded by a substantial, V-profiled ditch. This feature was 3.2m wide and 1.5m in depth from the base of the topsoil. The base of the ditch was filled with light grey sands. The upper fills consisted of layers of dark, organic-rich silty and clayey sands. No material was recovered from the ditch fills. The alignment and size at least of the ditch suggests that this bank and ditch feature represents a continuation of the dyke on Owermoigne Heath, but otherwise no indication of date could be recovered from the excavated section.’

<6> Royal Air Force, 17-JAN-1947, RAF/CPE/UK/1934 3073-4 (Aerial Photograph). SDO13834.

<7> Dorset County Council, XX-XXX-2009, Dorset CC Vertical Digital Photo Tile (Aerial Photograph). SDO13314.

<8> National Record of the Historic Environment, 453924 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Jul 4 2024 10:34AM