Monument record MDO5383 - Cross dyke on Delcombe Head, Woolland

A cross dyke running across Delcombe Head, and consisting of a ditch with banks on both sides. The dyke was around 440 feet in length, but now only part survives as a visible earthwork. The feature is visible as broken sections of ditched and banked earthworks on 1940s aerial photographs and current Environment Agency lidar imagery. In total the feature potentially extends for a little over 550m. It was digitally recorded during the Mid Dorset Downs AIM project.

ST 77850577 - 78170555. A cross-dyke, probably related to Rawlsbury Camp - Iron Age hillfort (see ST 70 NE 12), runs north west - south east - east south east across the ridge from the top of the escarpment on the north, to Delcombe Head on the south. The dyke consists of a ditch between two banks, and it was formerly about 440 yds long although only the north end and about 170 yds leading to the south end now remain.

On the north side the banks are 10ft across and 2ft high and end at the steep slope of the escarpment; the medial ditch, which is 18ft wide and 1ft deep, continues down the escarpment for a few yards. On the south, the west bank is 15 ft wide and 2 1/2ft high, the east bank is slightly smaller, and the ditch is 20ft wide and 2ft deep. <1-2>

The feature is visible as ditched and banked earthworks on 1940s aerial photographs and current Environment Agency lidar imagery; (RAF 1947; EA 2018).
The monument survives as broken sections; three broken sections to the north of the lane within Ivers Wood, one 175m long section heading southeast on the east side of Bulbarrow Hill, and potentially three broken sections southeast again within Delcombe Wood. In total the feature potentially extends for a little over 550m. A 55m section within Ivers Wood is only very faintly visible on lidar and might not survive well. A section on the northwest side of Delcombe Wood, within part of the former Second World War radio telegraph station (MDO42570), is no longer visible on lidar imagery. A 66m long curvilinear ditched and banked section within Delcombe Wood is visible on lidar at the southeast end of the feature, truncated by a post-medieval trackway. It is assumed to be part of the cross dyke but might alternatively be a later trackway. The feature was digitally recorded during the Mid Dorset Downs AIM project.

Royal Air Force, 17-JAN-1947, RAF/CPE/UK/1934 FS 2175 (Aerial Photograph). SDO21717.

Environment Agency, xx-xxx-2018, Environment Agency National Lidar Programme DTM 1M (Aerial Photograph). SDO21483.

<1> Royal Commission on Historic Monuments, 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume III (Central) Part 2, 317 (Monograph). SDO136.

‘(9) Cross-dyke (77850577-78170555), runs N.W.-S.E.-E.S.E. at 800 ft. O.D., across the ridge from the top of the escarpment on the N., to Delcombe Head on the S. The dyke consists of a ditch between two banks and it was formerly about 440 yds. long, although only the N. end and about 170 yds. leading to the S. end now remain. On the N., the banks are 10 ft. across and 2 ft. high and end at the steep slope of the escarpment; the medial ditch, which is 18 ft. wide and 1 ft. deep, continues down the escarpment for a few yards. On the S. the W. bank is 15 ft. wide and 2½ ft. high, the E. bank is slightly smaller, and the ditch is 20 ft. wide and 2 ft. deep.'

<2> Royal Air Force, 17-JAN-1947, RAF/CPE/UK/1934 2174-6 (Aerial Photograph). SDO17516.

<3> Historic England, National Record of the Historic Environment, 201784 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Feb 16 2026 11:30AM