Details

The monument includes a 200m long section of Bronze Age linear boundary bank
and ditch (also known as a dyke) lying east of York Lane and on the north
east side of Huggate Pasture, at the head of Horse Dale.
Lying close to the 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 single linear bank and ditch located approximately
at a midpoint between two more elaborate complexes of dykes - one further to
the west along Huggate Pasture in Frendal Dale and at its junction with Tun
Dale, and the other to the east at the junction of the three dry valleys of
Horse Dale, Holm Dale and Harper Dale. This short section of dyke is not a
discrete monument, as neither its eastern or western ends are thought to have
been original termini, but are believed to have once formed a continuous
length of boundary banks and ditches linking the eastern and western complexes
described above. 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 through the floors of dry
valleys were then `blocked' by other bank and ditch systems acting to control
access.
Well preserved sections of these linear boundaries are the subject of separate
schedulings, and in some cases, adjacent monuments may physically touch.
This elaborate complex of boundary earthworks is one of the best preserved
remnants of the original more extensive systems recorded and mapped as
extending across large areas of the Wolds 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.
The monument includes a low bank up to 3m wide and about 1m in height, with
a ditch on its southern side which is now infilled and overlain by a modern
field boundary and hedge.
The modern post and wire fencing and the part of the surface of the paved road
which impinges upon the area of the scheduling to the west 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.

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 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 Record Sheets, (1994)

Source: Historic England