Details

The monument includes the buried and upstanding remains of the southern
section of a late Iron Age or Romano-British linear boundary earthwork,
located some 3km south of Colchester town centre and known as the
Berechurch Dyke.

The section of dyke extends over a distance of about 1.7km, following a
narrow zig-zag course (first SSW, then SSE, then south) between Berechurch
Hall Road and the Roman River. From Berechurch Hall Road to Park Farm (a
distance of about 1.3km) the bank, or rampart, is surmounted by a modern
road surface and the ditch remains visible as a marked depression along
most of the eastern side. An excavation across the roadway in 1984
demonstrated that the original bank survives to a height of 1m below the
road and measures up to 13.5m in width. The depth of the largely infilled
ditch was not established, although its width was recorded as 5.5m. The
dyke continues southwards beyond the road and survives as a pronounced
earthwork running thorough Charlotte's Grove towards the north bank of
the Roman River. Here the bank stands some 2m high and 9.5m across and
the ditch measures 4m wide and 2m deep.

Excavations immediately to the west of the dyke in 1929 and in 1986 revealed a
number of slight ditches which have been interpreted as enclosures. These
enclosure ditches (not included in the scheduling) contained pottery dating
from the late Iron Age. They appear to have been deliberately sited alongside
the bank and this relationship provides some indication of the date of the
dyke's construction. The dyke's continuation to the north of Berechurch Hall
Road has been established through excavation, although the route is mainly
overlain by modern developments and is not included in the scheduling. At
Monkwick Cemetery, 1.4km to the north, the dyke was broken by an entranceway
before turning east and continuing (as Barnhall Dyke) for at least a further
800m. This change in direction may have been designed to avoid an extensive
late Iron Age burial ground to the south of the modern town centre, and
provides a further insight into the age of the dyke.

Berechurch (and Barnhall) Dyke, the only earthwork boundary on the eastern
side of the territorial oppidum, may have been built to provide defence
against attack from the direction of the Colne Estuary. Furthermore, since the
Roman empire presented the only sea-borne threat to the oppidum, it has been
suggested that the dyke was constructed as a specific response to the invasion
planned (but not carried out) at the time of the Emperor Caligula (AD 37-41).
Other authors maintain that the linearity of the dyke implies construction in
the Roman period (after the successful invasion of AD 43) and suggest that
its function was political rather than defensive.

The modern made road surface, together with all fences and fence posts, 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.

Source: Historic England

Reasons for Scheduling

The Latin term `oppidum' usually refers to a town, although in the context
of the Roman invasions of Britain, its use in the writings of Julius
Caesar and Suetonius encompassed a wider range of fortified settlements
and native strongholds. In archaeological terminology `territorial oppida'
is used to describe a settlement phenomenon of the later Iron Age - areas
of farmsteads, field systems and nucleated settlements of various kinds
covering wide areas bounded by substantial earthworks. Such sites are
considered to have been tribal capitals or focal places for communities
between the 1st century BC and the 1st century AD, serving as centres of
trade, manufacture and social prominence. Only a handful of sites in
England have been identified under this term (principally Colchester,
Bagendon, Silchester, St Albans, Chichester, Grims Ditch and Stanwick),
all of which lie in southern, central and western parts of the country.
They all share the common characteristic of boundaries defined by massive
linear banks and ditches, sometimes intermittent and positioned to include
natural barriers such as rivers and marshes. The enclosed areas vary from
between 30 sq km and 90 sq km, some marked out by curvilinear boundaries,
others by more rectilinear patterns. Activities within the enclosed areas
may vary considerably and, given that Iron Age society in southern England
was not homogeneous, there is no reason to suppose that all territorial
oppida exhibited the same status or served identical purposes. In addition
to farmsteads, areas of nucleated settlement and related field systems,
other known features of the enclosures include storage pits and wells,
areas set aside for burials (sometimes extremely elaborate), temple
complexes and areas of pottery manufacture, metal working and the minting
of coins. Some, particularly those positioned in coastal or estuarine
locations, provide evidence of widespread trade in the form of imported
goods, notably Gallo-Belgic pottery, from the continental mainland and the
western Roman Empire.
Territorial oppida reflect the development of complex social organisation and
increased permanence of settlement in the late Iron Age. They also provide
some of the most valuable evidence for the impact of Roman conquest and
government on native society. Given the rarity of this settlement form and its
importance for our understanding of the period, all territorial oppida are
viewed as being of national, if not international importance, and all
surviving elements are considered worthy of protection.

The territorial oppidum surrounding Colchester (`Camulodunum' in antiquity)
encompassed an area of about 25 sq km mainly located between the
converging courses of the River Colne and the Roman River to the west of
the Colne estuary. In addition to the rivers the settlement was defined and
protected by the largest group of linear earthworks of the period in Britain.
These developed over a period of about one hundred years from the foundation
of the settlement in the early first century BC and mostly take the form of
large V-shaped ditches with banks constructed from upcast on the sides facing
the settled area. The dykes may have been made still more formidable by the
addition of timber palisades and gateways and they have been interpreted
as an expression of the settlement's status, as a means to control and protect
grazing stock and as an effective defence against chariots - one of the
principal features of later Iron Age warfare. If placed end to end the dykes
would extend over a total distance of about 25km. Some 6km now survive as
extant earthworks, and many other sections are known to survive as buried
features.

The interior of the oppidum is thought to have been largely agricultural - a
mixture of enclosed fields, pasture and woodland - with small occupation sites
scattered throughout and two particularly large and complex areas of activity
located to the west and to the north. At Gosbecks, to the west, an extensive
farmstead has been identified. This has been associated with Cunobelin (one of
the most famous British kings prior to the Roman Conquest) and interpreted as
a centre of political authority and religious practice. Further north, at
Sheepen, excavations in the 1930s and 1970 revealed widespread evidence of
industrial processes, the minting of coins and continental trade. Associated
with the settlement sites are burial grounds the most prominent of which are
the Lexden Tumulus, Lexden Mount, a group of excavated burial enclosures at
Stanway (beyond the western dykes) and a similar (unexcavated) enclosure at
Gosbecks. These sites reflect the beliefs and complex burial rituals afforded
to the the society's elite; a large number of less elaborate burials have been
discovered across the oppidum.

The rulers and occupants may have fluctuated according to the relative
fortunes of two rival tribal polities - the Trinovantes centred on modern
Essex and the Catuvellauni based in modern Hertfordshire. An alternative
suggestion is that the oppidum served as a Catuvellaunian colony within
Trinovantian territory, maintained through political agreements or the warlike
ascendancy of the former in order to provide this otherwise landlocked tribe
with access to coastal trade. In either case, the oppidum was clearly of
central importance to the region in AD 43 when it formed the primary military
objective for the invading Roman army. After the collapse of local resistance
the Emperor Claudius personally led his victorious forces into the oppidum -
which was subsequently reorganised to provide a centre of provincial
government and bridgehead for the further conquest of Britain. A small Roman
fort was constructed within the Gosbecks complex, and a larger legionary
fortress was established on the hill to the east (now the centre of modern
Colchester). As the focus of military activity shifted towards the north and
west of Britain the fortress was redesignated as a `colonia', a chartered town
for a colony of retired soldiers. `Colonia Victricensis' (City of Victory) was
the first Roman town established in Britain and thus the earliest truly urban
settlement in the country. The burgeoning town was destroyed in AD 60-61 - the
first major casualty of the tribal revolt led by Boudicca, queen of the Iceni.
In the aftermath of the revolt the town was rebuilt with a protective wall
(based on the perimeter of the earlier fortress), and with the return of order
the colonia developed in a manner apparently calculated to integrate the old
and new social orders. Native settlement and burial practices continued within
the territorial oppidum (now probably a `civitas' or self governing town)
which was protected and defined with additional dykes. A temple and a theatre
were constructed at the Gosbecks site, and the Sheepen industrial zone was
maintained, enlarged and extended to include a further religious complex.

The collapse of Roman government in the early fifth century signalled
the end of Colonia Victricensis. Medieval Colchester emerged within the
walls of the former Roman town leaving the greater part of the extended
settlement and oppidum to disappear beneath its rural hinterland. As a
consequence the archaeological remains in this area are remarkable for
the lack of later disturbance and present a unique opportunity for the
study of the Iron Age and Roman past.

Berechurch Dyke, particularly the stretch through Charlotte's Grove, is one of
the best surviving examples amongst the linear earthworks which defined the
perimeter of the Iron Age settlement and Roman town. The bank is a substantial
earthwork which will contain valuable archaeological evidence for the date and
manner of its construction. The attendant ditch also survives well as a
visible and partly buried feature. The lower fills of the ditch are unlikely
to have been disturbed and will similarly contain valuable evidence for the
date when this section was built and the period over which it was maintained.
The silts may also contain environmental evidence illustrating the appearance
of the landscape in which the dyke was set.

Together with its continuation to the north (Barnhall Dyke), Berechurch Dyke
is believed to have formed the eastern boundary of the late Iron Age
territorial oppidum, or its successor - the Roman colony and Romano-British
civitas. It therefore forms part of the archaeological evidence for the
development of one of the earliest `proto-urban' settlements in Britain and
for its translation into Britain's first true town in the years following the
Roman conquest.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
Hawkes, C F C, Crummy, P, 'Colchester Archaeological Reports' in Camulodunum II, , Vol. 11, (1995), 54
Hawkes, C F C, Crummy, P, 'Colchester Archaeological Reports' in Camulodunum II, , Vol. 11, (1995), 159
Hawkes, C F C, Crummy, P, 'Colchester Archaeological Reports' in Camulodunum II, , Vol. 11, (1995), 24-26
Hawkes, C F C, Crummy, P, 'Colchester Archaeological Reports' in Camulodunum II, , Vol. 11, (1995), 137
Other
Radford, D and Gascoigne, A, The Colchester Iron Age Dykes: Archaeological summary, 1997, Colchester Museums Internal Report
Radford, D and Gascoigne, A., The Colchester Iron Age Dyke System: Integrated Management Plan, 1997, Colchester Museum internal report
Salvage excavation 1986, PRN 12035, (1988)

Source: Historic England