Monument record MDO7335 - Cross dyke on Knowle Hill, Church Knowle

A cross ridge dyke is visible as earthworks on aerial photographs on Knowle Hill, Church Knowle. It forms the eastern edge of an Iron Age settlement enclosure.

This earthwork consists of a ditch with bank to the West running North to South and crossing the narrow neck of a ridge. The earthwork is mutilated at A by a trackway. The ditch terminates at B and the bank at C. See illustration card. SY 93658223 to SY 93488230. The cross-ridge dyke has been ploughed down, and damaged by agricultural activity, but although slight it can still be traced for most of its length. <1>

SY 93658228. A dyke probably associated with the Iron Age settlement spans the hilltop on Knowle Hill. The bank is 3 1/2 feet high from the west and 4 1/2 feet above the east ditch, but probing suggests the ditch is at least 3 feet deeper than this. The present break in the dyke is secondary; uninscribed mere-stones formerly lay on either side of it. The dyke seems to end about 50 feet short of the edge of the steep slope to the south, but on the north runs up to the edge, making a junction (obscured by the later hedge bank) with another length of dyke, its ditch on the uphill side, which then runs west for 200 feet, veering away from the edge. <2>

SY 935824. Cross ridge dykes, mound and settlement on Knowle Hill. Scheduled and protected by Preservation Order. <3>

SY 93648230 to SY 93588228. This 60.0m long linear ditch is fairly well perserved under dense gorse and bramble cover. It runs nearly at right angles from the dyke along the edge of the steep natural ridge slopes and terminates in a well-defined rounded end. It has a slight bank on the downhill side for much of its length and is now up to 0.5m deep. Vegetation cover precludes close inspection however the angularity of the junction and the bank on the downhill side both suggest that it may have had a different origin and function to the dyke. Published 1:2500 survey revised. <4>

A cross ridge dyke is visible as earthworks on aerial photographs on Knowle Hill, Church Knowle <6-7>. It forms the eastern edge of an Iron Age settlement enclosure. The eastern edge of the settlement is defined by the cross dyke described separately in MDO7334. The site was digitally plotted during the Wild Purbeck Mapping Project.

Papworth, M D J, Trust for Wessex Archaeology, 1983, Isle of Purbeck Survey, IOP 241 (Index). SDO147.

‘Permanent pasture. Clear earthwork. 7/7/B.’

<1> Rigg, J, Field Investigators Comments JR, F1 JR 17-JUL-52 (Unpublished document). SWX1255.

<2> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume II (South East) Part 3, 518 (Monograph). SDO150.

'(56) Cross-ridge Dykes, five, on Knowle Hill (SY 98 sw; Fig. opp. p. 509, Plate 212), are of varying form; (c) and (d) are complex. Some or all are likely to be contemporary with the Iron Age 'A' settlement, Church Knowle (54), which lies between (c) and (d), the ditches of all the dykes being on the side distant from it. The apparently unfinished works along the N. shoulder between (c) and (d) suggest that there may have been an intention to enclose this area. … (d) (93658228), 320 yds. E. of (c), spans the hilltop and is bowed to the E. The bank is 3½ ft. high from the W. and 4½ ft. above E. ditch, but probing suggests the ditch is at least 3 ft. deeper than this. The present break in the dyke is secondary; uninscribed mere-stones formerly lay on either side of it. The dyke seems to end about 50 ft. short of the edge of the really steep slope to the S. but on the N. ran up to the edge, making a junction (obscured by the later hedge bank) with another length of dyke, its ditch on the uphill side, which then runs W. for 200 ft., oddly veering away from the edge.'

<3> Department of the Environment, 1978, Department of the Environment (IAM) Ancient Monuments of England (Vol 2) (Monograph). SWX1687.

<4> Fletcher, Martin, Field investigator's comments MJF, F2 MJF 01-MAY-86 (Unpublished document). SDO17630.

<5> Royal Commission on Historic Monuments, Externally held archive: RCH01/093 RCHME Inventory: Dorset II (South-East) (Unpublished document). SDO17434.

<6> Royal Air Force, 04-NOV-1946, RAF/CPE/UK/1821 2413-14 (Aerial Photograph). SDO13483.

<7> National Monuments Record, 18-NOV-2005, NMR SY9382/02-5 (NMR 24140/2-5) (Aerial Photograph). SDO13511.

<8> National Record of the Historic Environment, 457115 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Feb 3 2025 10:51AM