Monument record MDO45717 - Prehistoric linear dyke, Long Crichel, Tarrant Hinton and Tarrant Launces

A later Prehistoric linear dyke is visible as earthworks on aerial photographs taken in the 1940s but has subsequently been ploughed level. The dyke comprises a linear ditch which is flanked to the north by a linear bank, both of which measure circa 6m wide. The dyke is sinuous and extends in an arc over a total distance of 875m. It is cut in places by paths and trackways across the common and has suffered bomb damage from the surrounding Second World War bombing range (see ST 91 SW 248). The dyke had been levelled by ploughing on aerial photographs taken in 1953, when it is visible as a cropmark. Its eastern end abuts a linear dyke recorded as ST 91 SW 207, which is probably earlier. Similarly, the western end crosses an earlier linear dyke which now forms part of the parish boundary (see ST 91 SW 40). The western third of the dyke extends along the contours, whereas to the east it extends down the northern side of a ridge. The dyke was described by the RCHME as part of Tarrant Launceston 16 (1972; see also ST 91 SW 40 & ST 91 SE 207) and forms part of the semi-circular network of linear dykes on Launceston and Hinton Downs noted in the Bokerley Dyke volume (1990) and recorded as ST 91 SE 206.

A later Prehistoric linear dyke is visible as earthworks on aerial photographs taken in the 1940s but has subsequently been ploughed level. The dyke is centred at ST 9522 1111 and comprises a linear ditch which is flanked to the north by a linear bank, both of which measure circa 6m wide. The dyke is sinuous and extends in an arc over a total distance of 875m, between ST 9485 1119 and ST 9561 1123. It is cut in places by paths and trackways across the common and has suffered bomb damage from the surrounding Second World War bombing range. The dyke had been levelled by ploughing on aerial photographs taken in 1953, when it is visible as a cropmark.

Its eastern end abuts a linear dyke recorded as ST 91 SW 207 (UID: 1306448), which is probably earlier. Similarly, the western end crosses an earlier linear dyke which now forms part of the parish boundary at ST 9496 1108 (see ST 91 SW 40 / UID: 210241). The western third of the dyke extends along the contours, whereas to the east it extends down the northern side of a ridge. The dyke was described by the RCHME as part of Tarrant Launceston 16 (1972; see also ST 91 SW 40 / UID: 210241 & ST 91 SE 207) and forms part of the semi-circular network of linear dykes on Launceston and Hinton Downs noted in the Bokerley Dyke volume (1990) and recorded as ST 91 SE 206 (UID: 1306423). <1-4>

<1> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1972, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume IV (North), 106 (Monograph). SDO99.

'(16) Linear Dykes, on Launceston Down in the extreme N.E. of the parish, lie between 200 ft. and 350 ft. above O.D. on the summit and on the E. slopes of the Chalk ridge between the Tarrant and the Crichel brooks. The dykes have been almost totally levelled by cultivation since 1947.

A dyke beginning in Tarrant Hinton parish (94811126) runs approximately W.S.W.-E.N.E. in a sinuous course for just over one mile across Launceston Down; it is lost in Long Crichel parish at 96251150. The dyke formerly consisted of a ditch with a low bank along its N. side and measured about 35 ft. across overall. At a sharp change of direction near the middle of its course (95611123) the earthwork bifurcates, a short length which extends almost due W. for 100 yds. suggesting two phases of construction. At the W. end the dyke appears to cross an earlier dyke which follows the parish boundary with Tarrant Hinton. The earlier dyke consists of a ditch with traces of a bank on the S. side, measuring about 35 ft. across overall; it extends across the ridge-top, from 95031115 in the N.E. at least as far as 94661094, a distance of nearly 350 yds.; possibly it continued further S.W. It is also possible that a third dyke extended S.W., from a junction with the first mentioned dyke at 94851120, towards the W. end of the second dyke, but this last named earthwork could be no more than a bank formed by trackways. (Sumner, Cranborne Chase, 35–7, pl. xvi A.).'

<2> Bowen, H C, 1990, The Archaeology of Bokerley Dyke (Monograph). SWX800.

<3> Royal Air Force, 13-JAN-1943, NMR RAF/HLA/651 1136-1137 (Aerial Photograph). SDO19184.

<4> Royal Air Force, 20-APR-1953, NMR RAF/58/1090 F21 0136-0137 (Aerial Photograph). SDO19234.

<5> Historic England, Historic England Archive, MD002384 (Index). SDO14738.

EH: Tarrant Launceston 15 and environs aerial photograph survey and analysis. Material still held by aerial survey. The area comprises 10.5km² and is bounded by ST 930 080 (SW corner) and ST 965 110 (NE corner).

<6> National Record of the Historic Environment, 1481375 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Feb 22 2023 7:41PM