Details

The monument includes a short length of a cross-dyke which rises over a spur
of Hanging Grimston Wold, at the junction of Brownmoor and Birdsall Dale, and
is one of a number of prehistoric monuments in the vicinity of Aldro Farm.
The dyke comprises a 0.5m deep ditch flanked by slight earthen banks which are
more pronounced on the ridge of the spur. The overall width of the monument is
30m.

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.

Source: Historic England

Reasons for Scheduling

Cross-dykes are substantial linear earthworks typically between 0.2km and 1km
long and comprising one or more ditches arranged beside and parallel to one or
more banks. They generally occur in upland situations, running across ridges
and spurs. They are recognised as earthworks or as cropmarks on aerial
photographs, or as combinations of both. The evidence of excavation and
analogy with associated monuments demonstrates that their construction spans
the millennium from the Middle Bronze Age, although they may have been re-used
later. Current information favours the view that they were used as territorial
boundary markers, probably demarcating land allotment within communities,
although they may also have been used as trackways, cattle droveways or
defensive earthworks. Cross-dykes are one of the few monument types which
illustrate how land was divided up in the prehistoric period. They are of
considerable importance for any analysis of settlement and land use in the
Bronze Age. Very few have survived to the present day and hence all well-
preserved examples are considered to be of national importance.

The cross-dyke is well-preserved over most of its length and was part of an
extensive system of prehistoric dykes which has been recorded on Birdsall
Wold. It has further associations with other broadly contemporary monuments of
similar type in the vicinity and parallels are also known from other parts of
the Wolds and from the southern edge of the North York Moors. Such
associations between monuments offer important scope for the study of division
of land for social, ritual and agricultural purposes in different geographical
areas during the prehistoric period.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
Mortimer, J R , Forty Years Researches in British and Saxon Burial Mounds of East Yorkshire, (1905)

Source: Historic England