Bran Ditch or Heydon Ditch is generally assumed to be an

Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons were a Cultural identity, cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo- ...

earthwork in southern

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a Counties of England, county in the East of England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and North ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. Most of the ditch has been lost to agriculture over time, but its line its marked throughout by both hedgerow and the route of the Harcomlow Way and

Icknield Way The Icknield Way is an ancient trackway in southern and eastern England that runs from Norfolk to Wiltshire. It follows the chalk escarpment that includes the Berkshire Downs and Chiltern Hills. Background It is generally said to be, within ...

paths. It would have consisted of an earth bank and ditch running for approximately 5 km (~3 miles) north-west from higher land at Heydon through what is now the golf course at Heydon Grange, crossing the

A505 The A505 is an A-class road in England. It follows part of the route of the Icknield Way and the corresponding Icknield Way Path and runs from Leighton Buzzard in Bedfordshire to the A11 Abington Interchange North in Cambridgeshire. Route ...

road and to Black Peak at the southernmost tip of

Fowlmere RSPB reserve Fowlmere is a Royal Society for the Protection of Birds nature reserve between Fowlmere and Melbourn in Cambridgeshire. It is designated a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest called Fowlmere Watercress Beds. Fowlmere's reedbeds and po ...

. At this northern terminus of the ditch is an

iron-age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age ( Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age (Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly a ...

enclosure. This whole length of the ditch, and the enclosure, is classified as a

scheduled ancient monument In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a nationally important archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change. The various pieces of legislation that legally protect heritage assets from damage and d ...

. Beginning on the fringes of Heydon Village, the ditch's course quickly descends from the higher ground (120m) to the flatter agricultural landscape below (55m). On the hill the earthworks are lightly wooded and it is at this higher point at which the dyke's course and workings are best viewed. Its line to the north can be seen through gaps in the trees in the fields below and what remains of its banks are best preserved there. For a short distance the workings are several metres high as the footpath descends the hill through the ditch and onto the flatter ground below. Down here only a slightly raised straight path and a hedgerow line are clues to former glories.

History

Using data from the other dykes, archaeological

Carbon-14 Carbon-14, C-14, or radiocarbon, is a radioactive isotope of carbon with an atomic nucleus containing 6 protons and 8 neutrons. Its presence in organic materials is the basis of the radiocarbon dating method pioneered by Willard Libby and coll ...

dating suggests that work on the dyke(s) made during the 6th and 7th centuries. It would have been used as a defensive structure as well as a means controlling trade along

Roman roads Roman roads ( la, viae Romanae ; singular: ; meaning "Roman way") were physical infrastructure vital to the maintenance and development of the Roman state, and were built from about 300 BC through the expansion and consolidation of the Roman Re ...

that cross the dyke, including the

. Like the other works to the East, it fell from use within a few hundred years of concept. At a much latter date it is assumed that much of its length would have been flattened as part of agriculture reforms. The dyke is one of the shorter of several earthworks in south Cambridgeshire designed to control movement along the ancient Roman roads. The others are Devil's Dyke,

Fleam Dyke Fleam Dyke is a linear earthwork between Fulbourn and Balsham in Cambridgeshire, initiated at some timepoint between AD 330 and AD 510. It is three miles long and seven metres high from ditch to bank, and its ditch faces westwards, implying invadi ...

and

Brent Ditch Brent Ditch is generally assumed to be an Anglo-Saxon earthwork in Southern Cambridgeshire, England, built around the 6th and 7th Centuries . However most of its structure has been lost over time. The site is scheduled as an ancient monument by ...

Black Ditches, Cavenham Black Ditches is an earthwork close to the village of Cavenham of Suffolk, and part of it is a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). The earthwork is 4.5 miles long between the River Lark at Lackford and the Icknield Way. It is de ...

is a fifth earthwork guarding the ancient Icknield Way and can be found in

Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include Lowes ...

just north west of

Bury St Edmunds Bury St Edmunds (), commonly referred to locally as Bury, is a historic market town, market, cathedral town and civil parish in Suffolk, England.OS Explorer map 211: Bury St.Edmunds and Stowmarket Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher:Ordnance Survey – ...

. Much of the substance of Bran Ditch has been lost over time and it is the least preserved and least impressive of the five structures.

Heritage

The ditch offers shelter to wildlife, in what otherwise would be an open and agricultural landscape. It is best accessed from the south at Heydon (OS map reference TL431405).

References

{{reflist *Fox.C (1923) The archaeology of the Cambridge region: a topographical study of the Bronze, Early Iron, Roman and Anglo-Saxon Ages, with an introductory note on the Neolithic Age. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press History of Cambridgeshire Scheduled monuments in Cambridgeshire Linear earthworks