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Cross dyke on Hindhead golf course

A Scheduled Monument in Haslemere, Surrey

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Coordinates

Latitude: 51.1286 / 51°7'42"N

Longitude: -0.7676 / 0°46'3"W

OS Eastings: 486335.924025

OS Northings: 137311.432504

OS Grid: SU863373

Mapcode National: GBR DC9.4S0

Mapcode Global: VHDYG.NW2P

Entry Name: Cross dyke on Hindhead golf course

Scheduled Date: 8 June 1970

Last Amended: 8 December 1997

Source: Historic England

Source ID: 1018020

English Heritage Legacy ID: 29298

County: Surrey

Civil Parish: Haslemere

Built-Up Area: Churt

Traditional County: Surrey

Lieutenancy Area (Ceremonial County): Surrey

Church of England Parish: Churt

Church of England Diocese: Guildford

Details

The monument includes a roughly east-west aligned cross dyke constructed
across a sandstone spur situated around 1.5km to the north west of Hindhead.
The 150m long dyke has a ditch around 5m wide and 0.75m deep, flanked to the
south by a bank up to 7m wide and 1m high. The ends of the earthwork are
formed by well defined, rounded terminals. A short section of the earthwork
towards the centre of the monument has been levelled by a track which runs
along the spur, and the ditch will survive here as an infilled, buried
feature.
The modern surface of the track which crosses the monument 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

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.

Although it has suffered from some subsequent disturbance, the cross dyke on
Hindhead golf course survives well and will retain important archaeological
and environmental evidence relating to its original construction and use.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Other
RCHME, NMR Coversearch: various APs dating from 1945 to 1978,

Source: Historic England

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