Grim's Ditch
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Grim's Ditch, Grim's Dyke (also Grimsdyke or Grimes Dike in derivative names) or Grim's Bank is a name shared by a number of prehistoric bank and ditch
linear earthwork In archaeology, a linear earthwork is a long bank of earth, sometimes with a ditch alongside. There may also be a palisade along the top of the bank. Linear earthworks may have a ditch alongside which provides the source of earth for the bank and ...
s across England. They are of different dates and may have had different functions.


Purpose

The purpose of these earthworks remains a mystery, but as they are too small for military use they may have served to demarcate territory. Some of the Grims Ditches may have had multiple functions.


Etymology

The name "Grim's Ditch" is
Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, Anglo ...
in origin. The Anglo-Saxon word ''dīc'' was pronounced "deek" in northern England and "deetch" in the south. The method of building this type of earthwork involved digging a trench and forming the upcast soil into a bank alongside it. This practice has resulted in the name ''dīc'' being given to either the trench or the bank, and this evolved into two words, ''
ditch A ditch is a small to moderate divot created to channel water. A ditch can be used for drainage, to drain water from low-lying areas, alongside roadways or fields, or to channel water from a more distant source for plant irrigation. Ditches ar ...
'' and '' dyke'' in modern British English. The origin of the name ''Grim'' is shrouded in mystery, but there are several theories as to its origin. Many ancient earthworks of this name exist across England and Wales, pre-dating the
Anglo Saxon The Anglo-Saxons were a 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-Saxons happened wit ...
settlement of Britain. It was common for the
Anglo Saxon The Anglo-Saxons were a 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-Saxons happened wit ...
s to name features of unexplained or mysterious origin ''Grim''. Most scholars believe that the name derives from the
Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and t ...
word ''Grimr'', an Anglo-Saxon alias for the
Norse God In Germanic paganism, the indigenous religion of the ancient Germanic peoples who inhabited Germanic Europe, there were a number of different gods and goddesses. Germanic deities are attested from numerous sources, including works of literature, ...
of War and Magic,
Wōden Odin (; from non, Óðinn, ) is a widely revered god in Germanic paganism. Norse mythology, the source of most surviving information about him, associates him with wisdom, healing, death, royalty, the gallows, knowledge, war, battle, victory, ...
(called
Odin Odin (; from non, Óðinn, ) is a widely revered Æsir, god in Germanic paganism. Norse mythology, the source of most surviving information about him, associates him with wisdom, healing, death, royalty, the gallows, knowledge, war, battle, v ...
by the Norse) and meaning "the masked one". The name of Wōden is thought by some historians to be evident in Wansdyke, an ancient earthwork of uncertain origin which runs from
Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...
to
Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...
. The historian
W. H. Stevenson William Henry Stevenson (7 September 1858 – 22 October 1924), who wrote as W. H. Stevenson, was an English historian and philologist who specialized in Anglo-Saxon England. Stevenson was born in Nottingham and went to school in Hull. As a you ...
draws a link between ''Grim'', the Saxon alias for Wōden, and the name of Grim's Dyke:
Frank Stenton Sir Frank Merry Stenton, FBA (17 May 1880 – 15 September 1967) was an English historian of Anglo-Saxon England, and president of the Royal Historical Society (1937–1945). The son of Henry Stenton of Southwell, Nottinghamshire, he was edu ...
notes that there is no direct evidence that Wōden was known in England as Grim, but (citing supporting claims by Professor
Eilert Ekwall Bror Oscar Eilert Ekwall (born 8 January 1877 in Vallsjö (now in Sävsjö, Jönköpings län), Sweden, died 23 November 1964 in Lund, Skåne län, Sweden), known as Eilert Ekwall, was Professor of English at Sweden's Lund University from 1909 to ...
) states that it was very probable. He mentions three sites named ''Grimes Wrosen'': one outside
Colchester Colchester ( ) is a city in Essex, in the East of England. It had a population of 122,000 in 2011. The demonym is Colcestrian. Colchester occupies the site of Camulodunum, the first major city in Roman Britain and its first capital. Colches ...
in
Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...
; another in
Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avon an ...
on the route of the
Roman road 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 ...
Watling Street Watling Street is a historic route in England that crosses the River Thames at London and which was used in Classical Antiquity, Late Antiquity, and throughout the Middle Ages. It was used by the ancient Britons and paved as one of the main R ...
; and
Credenhill Credenhill is a village and civil parish in Herefordshire, England. The population of this civil parish taken at the 2011 Census was 2,271. Near Credenhill is the site of the former Royal Air Force station, RAF Credenhill. It was redeveloped b ...
in
Herefordshire Herefordshire () is a county in the West Midlands of England, governed by Herefordshire Council. It is bordered by Shropshire to the north, Worcestershire to the east, Gloucestershire to the south-east, and the Welsh counties of Monmouthshire ...
. These earthworks, Stenton asserts, were either considered to have been the supernatural work of Wōden himself, or sites connected strongly with the cult of Wōden where the Anglo-Saxons worshipped the god. Among Woden's many roles is that of a god of war, and it may be that the Anglo-Saxons perceived the earthworks as military in function and therefore ascribed them to him. Another suggested origin of ''Grim'' may be in the Celtic name ''Grin'' or ''Gryn'' ('' Gryan'' in
Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...
, a putative origin of the name '' Ryan''), a signifier of the Sun as a divinity. The identities of Wōden and the
Devil A devil is the personification of evil as it is conceived in various cultures and religious traditions. It is seen as the objectification of a hostile and destructive force. Jeffrey Burton Russell states that the different conceptions of t ...
have also become
conflated Conflation is the merging of two or more sets of information, texts, ideas, opinions, etc., into one, often in error. Conflation is often misunderstood. It originally meant to fuse or blend, but has since come to mean the same as equate, treati ...
, as evidenced in the number of earthworks named after the Devil. As the Anglo-Saxon population converted to the new religion of Christianity, baptised converts renounced the old Saxon Gods along with the works of the Devil. It is thought that, as a result of this Christianisation, place names and features once associated with pre-Christian deities then came to be associated with the
Devil A devil is the personification of evil as it is conceived in various cultures and religious traditions. It is seen as the objectification of a hostile and destructive force. Jeffrey Burton Russell states that the different conceptions of t ...
. The names ''Grim, Graeme and Graham'' are closely connected and many British family and place names have been linked with the etymology of Wōden/Grim/Devil:
Grimsby Grimsby or Great Grimsby is a port town and the administrative centre of North East Lincolnshire, Lincolnshire, England. Grimsby adjoins the town of Cleethorpes directly to the south-east forming a conurbation. Grimsby is north-east of Linco ...
(residence of the Devil), Grimsthorpe (Village of the Devil), Grimshaw (the Devil's Wood), reflected in the use of
dragon A dragon is a reptilian legendary creature that appears in the folklore of many cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but dragons in western cultures since the High Middle Ages have often been depicted as ...
emblems in
heraldry Heraldry is a discipline relating to the design, display and study of armorial bearings (known as armory), as well as related disciplines, such as vexillology, together with the study of ceremony, rank and pedigree. Armory, the best-known branch ...
associated with ''Grim-'' names. Earthworks bearing names related to Grim or the Devil proliferate around Britain: Grim's Ditches exist in Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Hampshire, Hertfordshire, Oxfordshire and West Yorkshire, and Devil's Dykes exist in
Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English ...
,
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 ...
,
Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...
(near
Weeting Weeting is a village in Norfolk, England. The population can be found in the civil parish of Weeting-with-Broomhill. The village's name means 'wet place'. Weeting St Mary Church Its church, St. Mary, stands close to the ruins of Weeting C ...
) and
Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For govern ...
. The
Antonine Wall The Antonine Wall, known to the Romans as ''Vallum Antonini'', was a turf fortification on stone foundations, built by the Romans across what is now the Central Belt of Scotland, between the Firth of Clyde and the Firth of Forth. Built some twe ...
which once separated
Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...
from
Roman Britain Roman Britain was the period in classical antiquity when large parts of the island of Great Britain were under occupation by the Roman Empire. The occupation lasted from AD 43 to AD 410. During that time, the territory conquered was ...
is also sometimes known as ''Graham's Dyke''. In Suffolk, a large
Neolithic The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several parts ...
flint Flint, occasionally flintstone, is a sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as the variety of chert that occurs in chalk or marly limestone. Flint was widely used historically to make stone tools and start fir ...
mine is known by the name of
Grimes Graves Grime's Graves is a large Neolithic flint mining complex in Norfolk, England. It lies north east from Brandon, Suffolk in the East of England. It was worked between  2600 and  2300 BC, although production may have continued well int ...
. Beyond Britain, a set of
Roman Limes (Latin, singular; plural: ) is a modern term used primarily for the Germanic border defence or delimiting system of Ancient Rome marking the borders of the Roman Empire, but it was not used by the Romans for that purpose. The term has been ex ...
on the borders of
Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...
,
Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...
and
Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe, Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Bas ...
are sometimes known as the
Devil's Dykes The Devil's Dykes (Hungarian: ''Ördög árok''), also known as the ''Csörsz árka'' ("Csörsz Ditch") or the ''Limes Sarmatiae'' (Latin for "Sarmatian border"), are several lines of Roman fortifications built mostly during the reign of Consta ...
in Hungarian.


Berkshire

Grim's Bank in West Berkshire runs for from inside the
Atomic Weapons Establishment The Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) is a United Kingdom Ministry of Defence research facility responsible for the design, manufacture and support of warheads for the UK's nuclear weapons. It is the successor to the Atomic Weapons Research ...
in
Aldermaston Aldermaston is a village and civil parish in Berkshire, England. In the 2011 Census, the parish had a population of 1015. The village is in the Kennet Valley and bounds Hampshire to the south. It is approximately from Newbury, Basingstoke ...
, through Ufton Park woods to
Ufton Nervet Ufton Nervet is a village and civil parish in West Berkshire, England centred west southwest of the large town of Reading and 7 miles east of Thatcham. Ufton Nervet has an elected civil parish council. Geography Ufton Nervet is a strip parish ...
village. At Park Piece there are number of earthworks and Grim's Bank changes direction or may be a separate monument. Excavations in 1978 suggested there were two different earthworks and were most likely to be Iron Age in date. These two parts of Grim's Bank are referred to as Grim's Bank I and Grim's Bank II. There is another Grim's Bank running south of
Aldworth Aldworth is a village and mainly farmland Civil parishes in England, civil parish in the England, English county of Berkshire, near the boundary with Oxfordshire. Orthography and slight change of name Aldworth was recorded in the Domesday Boo ...
and Streatley. Excavations have shown that the ditch is not earlier than the third century AD.


Buckinghamshire

There are three sections of the Chiltern Grim's Ditch in Buckinghamshire: * A substations section from Park Wood to Hampden House * Missenden Valley to the Lea * From King's Ash to county boundary where it continues into Hertfordshire It is not known if these sections of ditch were once a continuous feature or were built at separate times and had different functions. These sections are most likely to be of Iron Age date.


Essex

Gryme's Dyke, a Scheduled Ancient Monument, is one of a number of large linear earthwork dykes around the oppidium at Colchester. Most of the dykes were built in the late Iron Age to define and protect the important settlement centre of
Camulodunum Camulodunum (; la, ), the Ancient Roman name for what is now Colchester in Essex, was an important castrum and city in Roman Britain, and the first capital of the province. A temporary "strapline" in the 1960s identifying it as the "oldest re ...
(Colchester), though some can be dated to the early Roman period which is probably when Gryme’s Dyke was constructed. The official scheduling says: "The monument includes the buried and upstanding remains of the middle part of a late Iron Age or Romano-British linear boundary earthwork (Gryme's Dyke) located some 3.5km WSW of Colchester town centre." "Fragments of pottery and a copied coin of the Emperor Claudius allow the bank to be tentatively dated to the period AD 40-75, perhaps constructed on the eve of the Roman conquest (AD 43), but more probably later and possibly as late as the aftermath of the Boudiccan revolt (AD 60-61)."


Greater London

Grim's Ditch also called Grim's Dyke stretches from
Harrow Weald Harrow Weald is a suburban district in Greater London, England. Located about north of Harrow, Harrow Weald is formed from a leafy 1930s suburban development along with ancient woodland of Harrow Weald Common. It forms part of the London Boro ...
to
Bushey Heath Bushey is a town in the Hertsmere borough of Hertfordshire in the East of England. It has a population of over 25,000 inhabitants. Bushey Heath is a large neighbourhood south east of Bushey on the boundary with the London Borough of Harrow re ...
on the north western edge of
Greater London Greater may refer to: *Greatness, the state of being great *Greater than, in inequality (mathematics), inequality *Greater (film), ''Greater'' (film), a 2016 American film *Greater (flamingo), the oldest flamingo on record *Greater (song), "Greate ...
. It extends for some 3 km but has been badly damaged by housing development in the twentieth century. The earthwork runs just south of the former county boundary between Hertfordshire and Middlesex. There is another earthwork close by in Pear Wood, Brockley Hill that has been suggested as an eastern continuation of the Grim's Dyke. This monument is of Roman or post-Roman date and runs at ninety degrees to
Watling Street Watling Street is a historic route in England that crosses the River Thames at London and which was used in Classical Antiquity, Late Antiquity, and throughout the Middle Ages. It was used by the ancient Britons and paved as one of the main R ...
. A nearby house built in 1870-72,
Grim's Dyke Grim's Dyke (sometimes called Graeme's Dyke until late 1891)How, Harry ''The Strand Magazine'', Vol. 2, October 1891, pp. 330–41, reprinted at ''The Gilbert and Sullivan Archive'', 20 November 2011 is a house and estate in Harrow Weald, in nort ...
(sometimes also called ''Graeme's Dyke''), was named after the earthworks. The large
Victorian Gothic Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...
mansion was once the home of the opera librettist
W. S. Gilbert Sir William Schwenck Gilbert (18 November 1836 – 29 May 1911) was an English dramatist, librettist, poet and illustrator best known for his collaboration with composer Arthur Sullivan, which produced fourteen comic operas. The most f ...
and is now operated as a hotel. Excavations in the ground of the Grim's Dyke Hotel in 1979 suggested Grim's Dyke was earlier in date than the Pear Wood monument.


Hampshire

One
Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...
ditch encloses an area of on the
Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...
and
Dorset Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset (unitary authority), Dors ...
borders. The earthwork runs for about , and is a double-banked structure with a ditch between the banks. It cross the present count boundary into Wiltshire. The Royal Commission's survey of
Bokerley Dyke Bokerley Dyke (or Bokerley Ditch) is a linear earthwork long in Hampshire, between Woodyates and Martin. It is a Scheduled Monument. It is also spelt Bokerly Dyke. Bokerley Dyke was excavated by Augustus Pitt Rivers between 1888 and 1891 and by ...
disputed the idea of Grim's Ditch being a single monument, and suggested it was a complex of separate sections. English Heritage's monument scheduling suggests that Grim's Ditch may be of
Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...
or
Early 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 appl ...
date. Another can be found in west Hampshire, midway between the villages of Upton and Netherton.


Hertfordshire

The route of the Grim's Ditch in Hertfordshire passes through the town of
Berkhamsted Berkhamsted ( ) is a historic market town in Hertfordshire, England, in the Bulbourne valley, north-west of London. The town is a civil parish with a town council within the borough of Dacorum which is based in the neighbouring large new town ...
, and remnants of the earthwork can be seen on Berkhamsted Common. The Historic Environment Record for Hertfordshire suggests that the section on Berkhamsted Common is of Iron Age or early Roman date for the monument is most likely than the Bronze Age (date suggested for the rest of Grim's Ditch because it is larger here and does not follow the contours of the landscape like the rest of Grim's Ditch.


Oxfordshire

There are three linear earthworks in Oxfordshire that are called Grim's Ditch. The south Oxfordshire Grim's Ditch, also known as the
Mongewell Mongewell (first syllable rhymes with ''sponge'') is a village in the civil parish of Crowmarsh, about south of Wallingford in Oxfordshire. Mongewell is on the east bank of the Thames, linked with the west bank at Winterbrook by Winterbrook ...
Ditch is a section between Mongewell on the banks of the
Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after the R ...
near Wallingford, and Hayden Farm near
Nettlebed Nettlebed is a village and civil parish in Oxfordshire in the Chiltern Hills about northwest of Henley-on-Thames and southeast of Wallingford. The parish includes the hamlet of Crocker End, about east of the village. The 2011 Census recor ...
in the Chilterns escarpment. Part of the western end was excavated during the building of
Winterbrook Bridge Winterbrook Bridge, also known as Wallingford By-pass Bridge, was built in 1993 as part of a by-pass around Wallingford, Oxfordshire, relieving the single-lane Wallingford Bridge. It forms part of the A4130 road, A4130, connecting Winterbrook, a ...
, and dated as late
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 appl ...
/early
Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...
. The ditch has a bank on the north side which suggests that its function was to bar passage into the southernmost part of Oxfordshire. Considering the location of the ditch across the Chiltern Clayland, it is possible that the ditch could have functioned to block movement into Oxfordshire up the Thames valley. The heavier soils behind the ditch are far easier to move over, creating a solid defensive position. However, since a neighbouring set of earthworks, Streatly Ditches, faces north, it would be difficult to come to the conclusion that the two create a barrier against movement up the Thames valley. Furthermore, it could be argued that there is a possibility that people could simply cross the river at Streatley and just avoid both dykes altogether. In terms of dating, one of the few finds on the site is a coin, dateable to the beginning of the 1st century BC. The ditch can also be compared to the identically-arranged Chichester Entrenchments, dating the ditch to around the Iron Age. The soil composition shows light soils being cleared for tillage and sheep, and clays bearing forest for raising animals, which is also characteristic of the Iron Age. There is another separate set of earthworks known as the north Oxfordshire Grim's Ditch to the northwest of Oxford. There are a whole series of discontinuous earthworks with gaps between them. The whole complex covers an area of around 80 km2. There are two circuits of earthworks whose relationship is unknown. Excavation has shown the earthworks were built in the late Iron Age and went out of use by the Roman period. There is a suggestion that the earthworks are part of an oppida but if this is the case then it would be the largest one in Britain. The north Oxfordshire Grim's Ditch is visible as a shallow ditch and a raised area south of North Leigh (accessible from the New Yatt footpath), in the woods west of Stonesfield (near the Blenheim Park boundary wall), running north near Grim's Dyke Farm at Glympton Assets, in the woods to the north of Glympton Assets and south-east of Ditchley Park. A third Grim's Ditch is found on the Berkshire Downs and lies north of the county boundary between Oxfordshire and West Berkshire, running for near
the Ridgeway The ancient tree-lined path winds over the downs countryside The Ridgeway is a ridgeway or ancient trackway described as Britain's oldest road. The section clearly identified as an ancient trackway extends from Wiltshire along the chalk r ...
, above the
Oxfordshire Oxfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the north west of South East England. It is a mainly rural county, with its largest settlement being the city of Oxford. The county is a centre of research and development, primarily ...
villages of
Ardington Ardington is a village and civil parish about east of Wantage in the Vale of White Horse. It was part of Berkshire until the 1974 boundary changes transferred it to Oxfordshire. Since 2012 responsibility for Ardington and the neighbouring ...
, Hendred and Chilton. This is thought to be of late Bronze Age date.


West Yorkshire

The West Yorkshire Grim’s Ditch was recognised in the 1970s through the work of Dr Margaret Faull on the place names of West Yorkshire. It had escaped the attention of Yorkshire antiquarians because of the poor state of preservation. The Grim’s Ditch runs north to south between Leeds and Castleford with the ditch is the eastern side. Late medieval documents only refer to the northern section as Grim’s Ditch. The Grim’s Ditch needed substantial effort to build as the ditch was cut into the shale bedrock in parts. Radiocarbon dates from material excavated during archaeological work on the A1 (M) upgrading showed the Grim's Ditch was probably Iron Age in date with possible Roman reuse.


Locations


British National Grid references


See also

*
Anglo-Saxon paganism Anglo-Saxon paganism, sometimes termed Anglo-Saxon heathenism, Anglo-Saxon pre-Christian religion, or Anglo-Saxon traditional religion, refers to the religious beliefs and practices followed by the Anglo-Saxons between the 5th and 8th centurie ...
*
Devil's Dyke, Cambridgeshire Devil's Dyke or Devil's Ditch is a linear earthen barrier, thought to be of Anglo-Saxon origin, in eastern Cambridgeshire and Suffolk. It runs for in an almost straight line from Reach to Woodditton, with a ditch and bank system facing sou ...
, an earthen barrier in eastern Cambridgeshire *
Devil's Dyke, Hertfordshire Devil's Dyke is the remains of a prehistoric defensive ditch which lies at the east side of the village of Wheathampstead, Hertfordshire, England. It is protected as a Scheduled Monument. It is generally agreed to have been part of the defence ...
, a prehistoric defensive ditch in Hertfordshire *
Toponymy of England The toponymy of England derives from a variety of linguistic origins. Many English toponyms have been corrupted and broken down over the years, due to language changes which have caused the original meanings to be lost. In some cases, words used ...


Notes


References

*Henig, M, Booth, P. and Allen, T. (2000) ''Roman Oxfordshire'', Sutton Publ, 244 p, {{ISBN, 0-7509-1959-0 *Sauer, E. (1999) "Middleton Stoney/Upper Heyford, Aves Ditch, earthwork and tribal boundary of the Iron Age", ''South Midland Archaeol.'', 29, 65–69 Archaeological sites in England Archaeological sites in Berkshire Archaeological sites in Hampshire Archaeological sites in Oxfordshire Ancient dikes Linear earthworks