Details

The monument includes a 170m long section of Bronze Age linear boundary bank
and ditch (also known as a dyke) running south west along the north eastern
end of Greenwick Dale, 250m east of East Greenwick Farm and 150m south of
Waterman Hole and York Lane.
Lying close to an ancient trackway on the western side of the Wolds, the
surviving part of which forms the present-day Wolds Way, the monument is a
relatively short section of what was once an elaborate complex of boundary
dykes between Millington and Huggate Wolds and Huggate Pasture, single
components of which run either along the top of the escarpment, or part of the
way down the sides of the intervening dry valley systems of Frendal Dale and
Tun Dale, south towards Millington Wold and Millington Lings, linking up with
the system of boundary dykes in those areas. These dykes were used to enhance
the natural topographical barriers of spurs and escarpments between valleys,
with additional physical barriers of banks and ditches. Natural conduits
along the floors of dry valleys were then `blocked' by other bank and ditch
systems to control access.
Well preserved sections of these linear boundaries are the subject of separate
schedulings, and in some cases, adjacent monuments may physically abut.
This elaborate complex of Wolds boundary earthworks is one of the best
preserved remnants of the original more extensive system recorded and mapped
by early antiquarians such as J R Mortimer in the 19th century.
Excavations and observation of spatial relationships with other earthworks of
known date demonstrate this Wolds complex of earthworks to have originated in
the later Bronze Age, with several subsequent phases of elaboration and
augmentation.
The monument also forms part of a broadly related and extensive complex of
multi-period prehistoric earthworks, including bowl barrows, barrow
cemeteries, linear bank and ditch systems, trackways and enclosures dispersed
across Huggate and Warter Wolds and Huggate and Millington Pastures.
This section of linear bank and ditch is not a discrete monument, as neither
its western nor eastern ends are thought to be original termini, but are
thought to have once formed a continuous length of boundary banks and ditches
with other adjacent monuments in the area. As such, its original junction with
the section of linear bank and ditch in Farclose Plantation is now no longer
visible above ground. The same is the case for a long section of bank and
ditch to the south west, connecting the monument with the section lying in
Stable Plantation, at the junction of Tun Dale and Greenwick Dale, which is no
longer identifiable above ground.
Along its southern section, the bank is between 1m and 1.5m in height and 3m-
4m wide, and the ditch, which lies on the north western side of the bank, is
`U' shaped and 2m wide at its base. Half way along the length of the monument
going north, a woodland path merges with the line of the monument, obscuring
the bank for a short section before assuming the course of the ditch, which is
deeper and over 3m wide at this point, and is believed to have been reused as
a hollow way during a later period. From this point, the bank becomes 1.5m-2m
in overall height and 2m wide towards its top. Along its south eastern
junction with the side of the dry valley here, the bank merges into the
contour of the rising ground. The monument dwindles and disappears around 100m
short of where its original junction with the linear earthwork in Farclose
Plantation was believed to be.
Modern post and wire fencing is excluded from the scheduling, although the
ground beneath it 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.

Source: Historic England

Reasons for Scheduling

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.

The monument is part of a very extensive and important system of linear
boundary dykes in this area of the Yorkshire Wolds, dating back to the Bronze
Age. It is a well preserved section, and is closely associated with other
adjacent complexes of linear banks and ditches, which together form an
integral system of boundary and defensive earthworks in this region. As such
it offers important insights into ancient land use and territorial divisions
for social, ritual and agricultural purposes in this area of the Yorkshire
Wolds.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
Mortimer, J R , Forty Years Researches in British and Saxon Burial Mounds of East Yorkshire, (1905), 365-380
Dent, J, 'Archaeological Journal' in The Yorkshire Dykes, , Vol. 141, (1984), 32-33
Halkon, P, 'Prehistory Research Section Bulletin' in The Huggate Dykes, , Vol. 30, (1993), 10
Manby, T, 'Current Archaeology' in The Yorkshire Dykes, , Vol. 67, (1979), 233
Other
Humberside SMR, Sites and Monuments Records Sheet, (1994)

Source: Historic England