Monument record MDO4679 - Cross dyke on Shillingstone Hill, Shillingstone

A cross dyke across a narrow spur and apparently associated with an adjacent prehistoric field system. In 1970 this monument was described as a bank around 3 feet high and 25 feet across, with a ditch on its uphill side.

<1> Royal Commission on Historic Monuments, 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume III (Central) Part 2, 242 (Monograph). SDO136.

'(26) CROSS_DYKE (82700990 - 82790985), extending from N.W. to S.E., lies at just over 600 ft. above O.D., across the narrow, steeply sloping spine of a spur which juts N.E. from Shillingstone Hill. The dyke is concave to the slope, with the ditch on the S.W. or uphill side. Its length is not less than 50 yds. And it may have been as much as 100 yds.; the bank is at most 3 ft. high and 25 ft. across; the ditch has similar dimensions. The dyke is apparently integral with the pattern of adjacent 'Celtic' fields (Group(58)), although at the N.W. end it cuts into a 'Celtic' field lynchet and the bank possibly lies along the top of another lynchet. It may be the slight remains of the lynchet, rather than an almost flattened continuation of the bank, that runs from the apparent 'Celtic' field lynchet, thus giving the monument its length of 100 yds. It has been cut by tracks along the spur top.
'Celtic' fields see p.340, Group (58).'

<2> National Record of the Historic Environment, 205599 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Mar 8 2022 8:53AM