Monument record MDO5786 - Dyke on Redman's Hill, Horton

A linear dyke across a spur and running from the River Crane to a marshy area. The dyke is undated, but thought most likely to be late prehistoric. The linear dyke was digitally plotted from aerial photographs during the Dorset Stour NMP.

The earthwork resembles Bronze Age/Iron Age boundary ditches found on the chalk in Cranborne Chase, and may possibly be an outlier of similar type and period. The parallel hollow-ways which cross it west of the railway are probably of no great age. Published survey (OS 25" 1901) revised. <1>

A linear dyke across Redman's Hill, Horton. The dyke is undated, but thought most likely to be late prehistoric. The linear dyke was digitally plotted from aerial photographs <4-5> during the Dorset Stour NMP, it can be traced for over 600m from the River Crane in a SSW direction.

<1> Quinnell, N V, Various, Field Investigators Comments NVQ, F1 NVQ 24-MAY-1962 (Unpublished document). SDO11903.

<1.1> Historic England, Historic England Archive, 1093597 (Index). SDO14738.

SU 00 NE 8 (1962). Index cards (x2). Includes Profiles and Photo.Antiquity Model: Surveyed.

<2> Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey Map 6in, 1970 (Map). SWX1540.

(SU 07470720) Earthwork (NR)

<3> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1975, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume V (East), 37-38 (Monograph). SDO129.

'(23) LINEAR DYKE (07470704-07700761), on Horton Common, crosses a low spur extending S.E. from Redman's Hill and is bisected by a railway cutting. It is some 675 yds. long and comprises twin banks with a medial ditch. On the S.S.W. it ends in a marshy area and on the N.N.E. it runs up to the S. bank of the R. Crane, in Homer's Wood. To the W. of the railway, although cut by numerous tracks and hollow-ways, the dyke is generally well-preserved; E. of the cutting it has been largely obliterated by ploughing, except in Homer's Wood, where it survives in poroor condition. Where best preserved each bank is some 15 ft. across and 2 ft. high, and the ditch is 14 ft. across and 3 ft. deep. The siting of the dyke across the spur and its relation to the obstacles at each end suggest a protective if not a defensive function. A date in the later prehistoric period would seem likely, but conclusive evidence is as yet lacking.'

<4> Royal Air Force, 12-DEC-1946, RAF/CPE/UK/1893 RP 3088-9 (Aerial Photograph). SDO15595.

<5> Royal Air Force, 29-SEP-1945, RAF/CPE/UK/850 V 5017-8 (Aerial Photograph). SDO15598.

<6> National Record of the Historic Environment, 212941 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Oct 7 2024 1:59PM