Monument record MDO3517 - Cross-dyke near Hatt's Barn, Ashmore

A cross-ridge dyke aligned south-south east to north-north west, turning within Hatt's Copse to trend south-south west to north-north east. The dyke comprises a ditch and partial linear earthen bank. It has been disturbed by modern features including the road from Win Green (Wiltshire), and has elsewhere been blocked by a modern track. The southern end of the dyke has been cut into by a pond.

ST 90101855 - ST 90051903 This cross-ridge dyke remains as described by RCHM <2>.

It is generally in a good state of preservation. Poorly defined on OS air photographs <3>.

Revised at 1:2500 on permatrace. <4>

The northern section of the earthwork comprises a ditch flanked on either side by a ditch. The ditch survives to a maximum width of 9 metres and depth of 2 metres. The bank on the western side of the ditch measures up to 8 metres wide and up to 0.70 metres high, the eastern bank 3 metres wide and up to 0.4 metres high. There is an additional bank, 7 metres wide and up to 5 metres high, also present on the western side. The southern section of the earthwork comprises a single ditch surviving to a depth of 0.60 metres and a width of 5 metres. No traces of a bank survive. <5>

<1> Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey Map 6in, 1963 (Map). SWX1540.

ST 90101886 - ST 90091854 Earthwork (NR).

<2> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1972, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume IV (North), 2-3 (Monograph). SDO99.

'(14) CROSS-DYKE (90101854-90111886), near Hatt's Barn, lies across a ridge between 700 ft. and 800 ft. above sea level and faces E.; it is cut by the modern road running S.W. from Win Green in Wiltshire. South of the road the dyke runs S.S.E. for 175 yds. and then, in Hatts Copse, turns to run S.S.W. for a further 200 yds.; it ends halfway across a shallow combe falling south-eastward. North of Hatts Copse the earthwork comprises a ditch some 8 ft. deep and 30ft. across, wth a modern hedge-bank along the W. edge. A main bank 28 ft. across, with a modern hedge bank along the W. edge. A main bank 28ft. across and up to 2 ft, high lies some 25 ft. back from the W. edge of the ditch, but it extends S. for only 100 yds. and ends immediately inside the copse. The ditch continues, but towards the S. end of the copse it is blocked by a modern track and cut into by a pond. Further S. the ditch reappears on a smaller scale, about 15 ft. across and up to 4 ft. deep, and disturbed by digging; it has no bank, and lynchets on either side of it have accentuated the profile. On the N.side of the modern road, as noted by Sumner (Cranborne Chase 66), the dyke appears to have continued as far as the shoulder of the slope to a very steep-sided combe. This section, now followed by the boundary between Compton Abbas and Melbury Abbas, is marked by a large hedge-bank, 15 ft. across up to 4ft. High, with a slight dip which probably marks the line of the ditch along the N.E. side.'

<3> Ordnance Survey, 6.6.75, OS 75/371 145 (Aerial Photograph). SDO17856.

<4> Barrett, G, Various, Field Investigators Comments GB, F1 GB 26-MAR-78 (Unpublished document). SDO17369.

<5> DCMS, 2002, Scheduled Monument Notification EH Scheduling amendment, 24JULY-2002 (Scheduling record). SDO17857.

<6> Historic England, Historic England Archive, BB69/01712 (Index). SDO14738.

SECTION ACROSS DYKE

<7> National Record of the Historic Environment, 209904 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Sep 12 2024 1:05PM