Details

The monument includes a pit alignment on the western edge of Hambleton Down
visible on aerial photographs.
It forms part of the Cleave Dyke boundary system. There are two roughly
parallel, short rows of pits 2m apart. There are five pits in the west row and
only four clearly visible in the east row. They are up to 1m in diameter and
1m apart.
This pit alignment is part of a wider prehistoric boundary system known as the
Cleave Dyke. This more usually took the form of a continuous earthwork bank
and ditch. The reasons for the use of different types of construction are not
yet fully understood. They are all considered to be contemporary. This system
of boundaries, stretching along the Hambleton Hills, divided the terrain into
discrete units for agricultural and social purposes. The dyke is also
associated with earlier round barrows which formed territorial divisions.
Together the monuments in this area provide important evidence of territorial
organisation and the development of settled agricultural practices.

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

The Cleave Dyke System is the most westerly of a series of dyke systems on the
Tabular Hills of north east Yorkshire. The name has been given to a series of
linear ditches and banks stretching north-south over 9km parallel with and
close to the western scarp of the Hambleton Hills. The system was constructed
between the Late Bronze Age and the Iron Age to augment the natural division
of the terrain by river valleys and watersheds. Significant stretches remain
visible as upstanding earthworks; elsewhere it can be recognised as a cropmark
on aerial photographs. The system formed a prehistoric territorial boundary in
an area largely given over to pastoralism; the impressive scale of the
earthworks displays the corporate prestige of their builders. In some
instances the boundaries have remained in use to the present day. Linear
boundaries are of considerable importance for the analysis of settlement and
land use in the later prehistoric period; all well preserved examples will
normally merit statutory protection.

This section of the dyke system is preserved as a short section of pit
alignment. It lies south west of the main north to south dyke and is thought
to be the remains of a marker for a subdivision of the territory. The pits
demonstrate a high degree of preservation and significant archaeological
information will be retained within them.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
Spratt, D A, 'The Yorkshire Archaeological Journal' in The Cleave Dyke System, , Vol. YAJ 54, (1992), 33-53
Other
ANY 169/06,

Source: Historic England