Monument record MDO47559 - Prehistoric ditch, Tarrant Launceston

A network of later Prehistoric linear dykes on Launceston and Hinton Downs was noted in the Bokerley Dyke volume. The dykes appear to define an irregular semi-circle, open to the west, with additional dyke sections extending to the east. The semi-circle comprises parts of the linear dykes recorded by the RCHME as Tarrant Launceston 16 (1972), Long Crichel 7 (1975) and Tarrant Launceston 54 (1991). The remaining sections of these dykes extend to the east of the semi-circle. An additional dyke extends parallel to and between them. The southern side of the semi-circle crosses a linear dyke along the parish boundary. The network is a composite pattern; it does not comprise one single linear feature.

Tarrant Launceston 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. <1>

Long Crichel 7: LINEAR DYKES, probably all part of a single system, but of more than one phase, occur on former downland in the N. of the parish and extend W. into Tarrant Hinton. The most westerly and possibly earliest of the dykes has been flattened by ploughing, but air photographs show that it extended in a generally easterly direction from Tarrant Hinton Down (94881193), for more than 800 yds. Along a spur, to meet a second dyke on Tarrant Launceston Down (95591177). The dyke formerly comprised a ditch between two low banks and measured some 50 ft. across, overall. The second dyke, also ploughed flat, runs E.N.E. down the slope towards the Crichel Brook; it comes to an end after some 300 yds, (95851187) and neither ground inspection nor air photographs reveal any trace of it in the valley bottom. The dyke consisted of three banks, each about 15 ft. across and up to 3 ft. high, with intervening ditches of similar dimensions.

After a gap of some 500 yds. The dyke continues on the far side of the valley, on the slop of Thickthorn Down, where it runs N.E. for 800 yds. Until it meets the S.W. end of the Dorset Cursus. In this part the dyke comprises four low banks of notably rounded profile; where best preserved each bank is about 16 ft. across and 2 ft. high, with slightly smaller intervening ditches. At the N.E. end the dyke swings a little to the N. before being cut by the modern road on the parish boundary. Across the road only the two N.W. banks reappear; for some 400 yds, they run parallel with and close to the N.W. side of the Cursus; over most of this distance they have been levelled by ploughing, but they are visible on air photographs.
Excavation across this multiple dyke, on Thickthorn Down just inside the parish, yielded no evidence of structural features (such as post-holes for a palisade) and no firm evidence of date; the Roman period, however, seems likely. Such multiple banks and ditches are a distinctive form of boundary. They certainly are not defensive works and they may be compared with earthworks forming part of the settlement on Gussage Hill (ST 91 SE 3). In this case the Cursus earthwork, or part of it, appears to have been integrated with a boundary system. <2>

A complex of linear features running across Tarrant Launceston and Tarrant Hinton Downs. Together, they describe an irregular semi-circle, open to the west. From the cropmark evidence alone, it is impossible to clearly isolate individual elements, although it is clear that the system does not solely comprise one single linear feature. The northernmost element, running from circa ST 94881193 to ST 95591177, where it abuts another linear feature, ST 91 SE 205, was originally described by RCHME as part of a complex (Long Crichel 7) incorporating both ST 91 SE 205 and, further to the north east, ST 91 SE 41. However, the cropmark evidence suggests that the linear feature actually turns south and continues beyond the junction with ST 91 SE 205, the latter thus terminating against it rather than continuing its line. The southern extension was recorded by RCHME in the Bokerley Dyke volume as Tarant Launceston 54. Two further linear features (ST 91 SE 207 and 208) appear to head northeast from it, parallel with ST 91 SE 205, before it turns back to the west for a short distance, where it is met by RCHME's Tarrant Launceston 16, which gently curves round to circa ST 94791125, beyond which it cannot be traced. Shortly before this point, at circa ST 94851120, another possible linear feature meets it at right angles, running roughly northeast-southwest for about 150 metres. However, RCHME suggested that this need be "no more than a bank formed by trackways". At ST 94951110, Tarrant Launceston 16 crosses the course of another linear, ST 91 SW 40, the latter also marking the Tarrant Launceston-Tarrant Hinton parish boundary. <3-4>

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

<2> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1975, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume V (East), 39 (Monograph). SDO129.

<3> Bowen, H C, 1990, The Archaeology of Bokerley Dyke, Area plan 2 (Monograph). SWX800.

<4> Bowen, H C, 1991, The Archaeology of Bokerley Dyke: Inventory, 1 (Monograph). SDO14864.

<5> National Record of the Historic Environment, 1306423 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Dec 15 2023 9:41AM