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Two linear earthworks, two barrows and Iron Age and Romano-British settlements on Tidpit Common Down

Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places

Overview

Heritage Category:: Scheduled Monument
List Entry Number:: 1010762
Date first listed:: 28-Apr-1955

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Official list entry

Heritage Category:: Scheduled Monument
List Entry Number:: 1010762
Date first listed:: 28-Apr-1955
Date of most recent amendment:: 26-Sep-1995

Location

The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.

County:: Hampshire
District:: New Forest (District Authority)
Parish:: Damerham
County:: Hampshire
District:: New Forest (District Authority)
Parish:: Martin
National Grid Reference:: SU 06506 18090

Reasons for Designation

Linear boundaries are substantial earthwork features comprising single or multiple ditches and banks which may extend over distances varying between less than 1km to over 10km. They survive as earthworks or as linear features visible as cropmarks on aerial photographs or as a combination of both. The evidence of excavation and study of associated monuments demonstrate that their construction spans the millennium from the Middle Bronze Age, although they may have been re-used later. The scale of many linear boundaries has been taken to indicate that they were constructed by large social groups and were used to mark important boundaries in the landscape; their impressive scale displaying the corporate prestige of their builders. They would have been powerful symbols, often with religious associations, used to define and order the territorial holdings of those groups who constructed them. Linear earthworks are of considerable importance for the analysis of settlement and land use in the Bronze Age; all well preserved examples will normally merit statutory protection.

Much of the archaeological landscape of Martin Down and the surrounding area, including Tidpit Common Down, is preserved as earthworks or crop-marks, which together will provide a detailed understanding of the nature and development of early downland land division, agriculture and settlement. In addition to the linear earthworks, a bowl barrow, the levelled barrow and Iron Age and Romano-British settlement on Blagdon Hill and Tidpit Common Down survive well. Together these represent a rare combination of Bronze Age and later monuments constructed on the downs in this area. These were recently the subject of a detailed survey by the Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England. All will contain archaeological and environmental evidence relating to the construction and use of the monument.

Details

The monument includes two adjoining linear earthworks running eastward from Bokerly Dyke, a levelled, elongated barrow, a bowl barrow and overlapping Iron Age and Romano-British settlements on Tidpit Common Down. The eastern earthwork and the barrows are of Bronze Age date. The western linear earthwork, which makes a detour around the levelled barrow, is thought to be of Late Iron Age date. This linear earthwork (SM25607) abuts SM25610 (Bokerley Dyke) but for purposes of clarity these monuments have been defined as separate schedulings. The linear earthworks, which form part of Grim's Ditch, run eastward along a ridge from Bokerley Dyke on Blagdon Hill. They have a combined length of 1.82km: the western earthwork is c.1.06km long, the eastern one c.0.76km. The junction of the two earthworks, recorded as crop marks on aerial photographs, occurs in an area now under cultivation c.140m east of the levelled barrow. The western earthwork makes two almost right-angled turns c.60m west of the levelled barrow, probably to avoid earlier field boundaries, and a small diversion takes it around the south side of the barrow. Where upstanding, the earthwork includes a ditch flanked on both sides by a bank, giving an overall width of c.13m. The ditch is c.6.5m wide and falls to a maximum depth of 1.5m. The southern bank is the larger, rising to a maximum height of 0.7m above the adjacent ground level. The upstanding section of the eastern earthwork runs partly along the north side of the ridge, where the steep slope accentuates the depth of the ditch, here reaching a maximum depth of c.3.5m. The bank at the north is low, rising to a maximum height of 0.8m above the base of the ditch, and is occasionally absent altogether. The earthwork turns through two right-angles north of the settlements on Tidpit Common Down, again probably to accommodate existing fields. Further to the east, the earthwork is interrupted and diverted southward to form an entrance to the settlements. Towards its eastern end, the earthwork crosses a less steep slope where banks up to 1.1m high flank the ditch at either side. The elongated barrow, now in an area under cultivation, lies slightly north of the crest of the ridge. Although levelled by ploughing, the barrow is visible as soil marks on aerial photographs and has also been the subject of a geophysical survey. The barrow is c.30m long and 19m wide overall. The encircling ditch, from which material was quarried during the construction of the mound, has become infilled over the years but survives as a buried feature c.2.5m wide. The bowl barrow lies on the crest of the ridge at the east of the area occupied by the Iron Age and Romano-British settlements. The barrow mound is c.12m in diameter and up to 0.8m high. The encircling quarry ditch has become infilled but survives as a buried feature 2m wide. The overlapping Iron Age and Romano-British settlements lie toward the eastern end of the ridge and are marked by earthworks extending over an area of almost 4ha. The earlier settlement, which lies within an enclosure measuring c.140m (west to east) by at least 80m, occupies the northern part of the site. The area of occupation expanded southwards and eastwards in the later period, but was not then enclosed. At least one hut circle of the earlier settlement and occupation platforms of the later one were recorded during a survey of the site by the Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England. All posts and associated fencing and signs, gates, stiles, water tanks and associated pipes and fittings are excluded from the scheduling, although the ground beneath these features is included.

MAP EXTRACT The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract. It includes a 2 metre boundary around the archaeological features, considered to be essential for the monument's support and preservation.

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:: 25607
Legacy System:: RSM

Sources

Books and journals
Bowen, H C, Eagles, B N (ed), The archaeology of Bokerley Dyke, (1990), 113-6
Bowen, H C, Eagles, B N (ed), The archaeology of Bokerley Dyke, (1990), 115-6
Bowen, H C, Eagles, B N (ed), The archaeology of Bokerley Dyke, (1990)
Bowen, H C, Eagles, B N (ed), The archaeology of Bokerley Dyke, (1990), 113-6
Bowen, H C, Eagles, B N (ed), The archaeology of Bokerley Dyke, (1990), 13
Bowen, H C, Eagles, B N (ed), The archaeology of Bokerley Dyke, (1990), 115-6
Bowen, H C, Eagles, B N (ed), The archaeology of Bokerley Dyke, (1990), 115
Bowen, H C, Eagles, B N (ed), The archaeology of Bokerley Dyke, (1990)
Smith, I F , Long Barrows in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, (1979)
Other
Ordnance Survey, SU 01NE 12, (1954)

Legal

This monument is scheduled under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979 as amended as it appears to the Secretary of State to be of national importance. This entry is a copy, the original is held by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.