Details

The monument includes a length of linear earthwork 230m south west of Cherhill
Monument, on the north western scarp of the Marlborough Downs.
The boundary earthwork survives for a length of 82m running north-south down a
south facing slope ending at the top of a coombe. It includes a ditch up to
1.5m deep, flanked by a bank to the west up to 2m high. The entire structure
is 16m wide and is interpreted as a Bronze Age cross dyke. Other linear
boundaries and associated monuments in the vicinity are the subject of
separate schedulings.
All fence and gateposts as well as a metalled track within the ditch 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 cross dyke 230m south west of Cherhill Monument survives well and is a
good example of its type. It will contain archaeological remains and
environmental evidence relating to the monument and the landscape in which it
was built. This is one of a series of linear earthworks recorded on the downs
west of Avebury.

Source: Historic England