The Chiltern Grim's Ditch

In 1931 Dr O. G. S. Crawford published his survey of the Chiltern Grim's Ditch in ANTIQUITY, and in the following issue Mr M. W. Hughes related it to Cuthwulf's expedition to the Chilterns in A.D. 571. It is my intention in this paper to show that Mr Hughes had no evidence for so dating the earthwork and to demonstrate that it most probably belongs to the Iron Age. Closer study on the ground has shown that it is cut by two Roman roads, and is more extensive than Crawford realized, although he had credited it with a Berkhampstead section that cannot belong to it. The only question which really remains to be considered is whether the Ditch belongs to the Belgic Iron Age, since the Belgae are known to have dug cross-country dykes, or to the pre-Belgic Iron Age, since I have recently assigned this date to a number of cross-ridge dykes not far away in the eastern Chilterns

Ancient history · Archaeology · Cartography · Ditch · Earthworks · Geography · Ridge · Section (typography) · American Environmental and Regional History · Archaeology and Rock Art Studies · Australian Indigenous Culture and History · Geology · History · Paleontology