Devil's Dyke is the remains of a prehistoric defensive ditch which lies at the east side of the village of Wheathampstead,

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and one of the home counties. It borders Bedfordshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Essex to the east, Greater London to the ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. It is protected as a

Scheduled 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, visu ...

. It is generally agreed to have been part of the defences of an Iron Age settlement belonging to the

Catuvellauni The Catuvellauni (Common Brittonic: *''Catu-wellaunī'', "war-chiefs") were a Celtic tribe or state of southeastern Britain before the Roman conquest, attested by inscriptions into the 4th century. The fortunes of the Catuvellauni and thei ...

tribe of Ancient Britain. It has possible associations with

Julius Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (12 or 13 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC) was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in Caesar's civil wa ...

's second invasion of Britain (54 BC)

Description

Historic England Historic England (officially the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England) is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. It is tasked with prot ...

refers to the Devil's Dyke as being part of a much larger site. Some other sources are more specific as to what sort of earthwork it may be, suggesting that the dyke protects one side of an

oppidum An ''oppidum'' (: ''oppida'') is a large fortified Iron Age Europe, Iron Age settlement or town. ''Oppida'' are primarily associated with the Celts, Celtic late La Tène culture, emerging during the 2nd and 1st centuries BC, spread acros ...

(a large fortified

Iron Age The Iron Age () is the final epoch of the three historical Metal Ages, after the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. It has also been considered as the final age of the three-age division starting with prehistory (before recorded history) and progre ...

settlement) covering about 40 ha. The area is marked as a "Belgic oppidum" on

Ordnance Survey The Ordnance Survey (OS) is the national mapping agency for Great Britain. The agency's name indicates its original military purpose (see Artillery, ordnance and surveying), which was to map Scotland in the wake of the Jacobite rising of ...

maps. Today two sections of ditch remain. The western section, adjacent to the village, is the Devil's Dyke. It is around 30 m wide and 12 m deep at its largest. A smaller ditch to the east is known as " The Slad". A moat continues the line of the ditch to the south of The Slad. Unlike Devil's Dyke, the Slad is located on private property, and is not accessible to the public. The

River Lea The River Lea ( ) is in the East of England and Greater London. It originates in Bedfordshire, in the Chiltern Hills, and flows southeast through Hertfordshire, along the Essex border and into Greater London, to meet the River Thames at Bow Cr ...

could have served as a defensive barrier on the northern side of the settlement, so that a ditch was not needed there. Although recent archaeological studies have proven the main 'devil's dyke' ditch, the deepest part of what was assumed to be defensive ditches, around the settlement, was in fact the only part to have such ditches. It was thought that ditches in other parts of the site had been lost to erosion, but tests have shown the rest of the settlement would have been indefensible by ditches alone, and that what had been thought to be ditches were just minor boundaries surrounding the majority of the settlement, perhaps to keep animals from straying outside rather than defending the interior from attack.

History

Dating

Belgic pottery was found in the 1970s during construction of the Wheathampstead by-pass which goes through the northern part of the putative oppidum to cross the River Lea. The Catuvellauni are often linked to Belgic Gaul. There was also a smaller amount of pre-Belgic pottery.

Conservation and access

Visitors are welcome to visit the Devil's Dyke. According to a plaque at one entrance to the dyke, the land was presented by Lord Brocket in 1937 on the occasion of the

coronation of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth The coronation of the British monarch, coronation of George VI and his wife, Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, Elizabeth, as King of the United Kingdom, king and List of British royal consorts, queen of the United Kingdom and Commonwealth realm, ...

. Other parts of the Wheathampstead earthwork are not accessible. According to Historic England, there is a risk to the site from arable ploughing. It is included in the

Heritage at Risk Register An annual ''Heritage at Risk Register'' is published by Historic England. The survey is used by national and local government, a wide range of individuals and heritage groups to establish the extent of risk and to help assess priorities for acti ...

Possible association with Julius Caesar

The site is a candidate for the strongly defended place where

fought Cassivellaunus in 54 BC, as described in his firsthand account '' De Bello Gallico''. There are other possible locations for the stronghold (for example, Ravensburgh Castle, Hexton) and the historical evidence neither supports nor disproves the claim of the Devil's Dyke. Caesar gave details of crossing 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 th ...

and proceeding north towards the stronghold. He possibly crossed the Thames at

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West (London sub region), West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the River Thames, Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has dive ...

, although other locations have been posited. The theory that Wheathampstead was attacked by Caesar was supported by Sir

Mortimer Wheeler Sir Robert Eric Mortimer Wheeler Member of the Order of the Companions of Honour, CH Companion of the Order of the Indian Empire, CIE Military Cross, MC Territorial Decoration, TD (10 September 1890 – 22 July 1976) was a British archaeolo ...

, who carried out a 1932 excavation of the site. The sign at the entrance to the Dyke states that it is the probable place (based on the assertions of Sir Mortimer), which has led to the claim often being repeated as an established fact. No archaeological evidence exists of 1st-century military activity in Hertfordshire.

Related sites

Hertfordshire

Some archaeologists, including Sir

Barry Cunliffe Sir Barrington Windsor Cunliffe (born 10 December 1939), usually known as Sir Barry Cunliffe, is a British archaeologist and academic. He was Professor of European Archaeology at the University of Oxford from 1972 to 2007. Since 2007, he has been ...

, suggest that the Wheathampstead earthwork was connected with other local earthworks, particularly

Beech Bottom Dyke Beech Bottom Dyke, is a large ditch running for almost a mile at the northern edge of St Albans, Hertfordshire, England flanked by banks on both sides. It is up to wide, and deep, and it can be followed for three quarters of a mile between the ...

, four miles to the south west. This theory implies a single defensive earthwork running from the

to the

River Ver The Ver is a long chalk stream in Hertfordshire, England. It is a tributary of the River Colne, Hertfordshire, River Colne. Course The source is in the grounds of Lynch Lodge, Kensworth Lynch on the west side of the A5 trunk road and stays ...

, and possibly a large enclosed settlement. The fortifications were probably erected by King Cunobelinus to define areas of land around their tribal centre at

Verlamion Verlamion, or Verlamio, was a settlement in Iron Age Britain. It was a major centre of the Catuvellauni tribe from about 20 BC until shortly after the Roman Empire, Roman invasion of AD 43. It is associated with a particular king, Tasciovanus. ...

– the predecessor of the later Roman city of Verulamium.

References

External links

Beech Bottom Dyke and Devil's Dyke
at The Celtic Planet website
Hertfordshire.com: Devil's Dyke

The Modern Antiquarian: Devil's Dyke and the SladSecond plaque at the entrance

{{Coord, 51.80673, N, 0.28555, W, region:GB_source:enwiki-osgb36(TL183134), display=title History of Hertfordshire Iron Age sites in Hertfordshire Scheduled monuments in Hertfordshire Archaeological sites in Hertfordshire Former populated places in Hertfordshire Ancient dikes Linear earthworks