Monument record 0014003000 - GRIM'S DITCH BETWEEN MAIN ROAD AND LILLYFEE FARM, LACEY GREEN

Summary

Course of Grim's Ditch late prehistoric linear boundary, surviving as earthworks and buried remains

Protected Status/Designation

  • Ancient Monument 1020885: BUCKINGHAMSHIRE GRIM'S DITCH: 176M LONG SECTION SOUTH WEST OF WHITE HOUSE FARM
  • Planning Notification Area: Late Prehistoric linear earthworks of Grims Ditch

Map

Type and Period (2)

  • BANK (EARTHWORK) (Early Iron Age to Late Iron Age - 700 BC? to 42 AD?)
  • DITCH (Early Iron Age to Late Iron Age - 700 BC? to 42 AD?)

Description

Dimensions - Length 200m, Height 4m.
Plan Form - Linear.
Slight traces of ditch remain. Much altered & denuded (B1).
Marked between NGRs (B2).
2 sections (see also 04:000). Ditch & bank in good state of preservation. Footpath is on top of bank so ditch is deep & hardly silted up. Some rubbish tipping & erosion (B3).
Watching brief during construction of new driveway on projected line of Grim's Ditch at 'Highwood', Kiln Lane, found a dump of post-med brick and tile, probably waste from a former brickworks, possibly backfilling the ditch (B13).
Further documentary research by Network Archaeology in 1998 identified a short length of earthwork shown on the 1900 2nd edition 6-in OS map at SP82580032 (B17).
Magnetometer survey carried out at 2 locations on projected line of monument, north of Lacey Green School (at SU82589997) and east of Stocken Farm (at SP82470013). No definate traces of the monument were found north of the school (anomalies suggest a number of large pits and a possible post-fast structure). East of Stocken Farm a possible ditch, 6m wide and a possible bank, 10m wide were identified, suggesting that the monument may originally have extended to Main Road. 2 profiles across earthwork recorded by Network Archaeology in February 1999 (B18).
Evaluation carried out in April, June and July 2002 by Network Archaeology identified a substantial steep-sided ditch, over 3.5m deep and over 4.5m wide (full extent not established) and the denuded remains of a probable bank, 6m wide and 0.1-0.2m thick, on the line of Grim's Ditch. The bank material appears to have been used to backfill the silted-up ditch, possibly in the 19th century. No other dating material was found. Waterlogged environmental samples collected from one of the ?upper fills (at a depth of 1.71-1.77m) was rich in well-preserved pollen and spores, indicating an environment of woodland dominated by oak and hazel but with holly and beech growing locally; there was also a strong grassland (?pasture) component but with some arable activity taking place, possibly at some distance. The pollen analysis suggests that the fill dates from the very late prehistory or early historic periods - Iron Age, Romano-British or post-Roman (B21).
SAM No.35333. Scheduling revised September 2003 (B3).
Negative evaluations (B23,B25), watching brief (B22) and strip, map and record excavation (B30).

Sources (12)

  • <1>SBC12693 Bibliographic reference: RCHM BUCKS 1 P273.
  • <2>SBC10400 Map: Ordnance Survey. 1960. OS 1960 6-INCH MAP. 1:10,560.
  • <3>SBC13956 Scheduling record: English Heritage. 2003. SCHEDULING LISTS OF INSPECTORATE OF ANCIENT MONUMENTS.
  • <13>SBC19154 Unpublished document: Network Archaeology. 1999. 'Highwood', Kiln Ln., Lacey Green, Bucks..
  • <16>SBC19564 Unpublished document: Buckinghamshire County Museum Archaeological Service. 1997. An Archaeological and Management Survey of Grim's Ditch, Buckinghamshire.
  • <17>SBC19565 Unpublished document: Network Archaeology. 1998. Grim's Ditch Archaeological and Management Survey Phase II. pp2,3,4, Fig 3, Appendix 1.
  • <18>SBC19566 Unpublished document: Network Archaeology. 1999. Grim's Ditch Archaeological and Management Survey Phase III. pp4,5,10,12-14,Appendix 2, Figs 3,21,33,42,43.
  • <21>SBC20072 Unpublished document: Network Archaeology. 2003. Land Between Kiln Lodge and Kiln Barn, Lacey Green: Archaeological Evaluation.
  • <22>SBC21003 Unpublished document: Archaeological Services & Consultancy Ltd. 2003. Watching Brief: Kiln Lodge, Kiln Lane, Lacey Green.
  • <23>SBC22152 Unpublished document: Thames Valley Archaeological Services. 2004. Stocken Farm, Lacey Green, Princes Risborough: an Archaeological Evaluation.
  • <25>SBC22397 Unpublished document: Chiltern Archaeology. 2005. Archaeological investigation on land between Kiln Lodge and Kiln Barn, Lacey Green: Archaeological evaluation.
  • <30>SBC24573 Unpublished document: Thames Valley Archaeological Services. 2015. Datcha, Kiln Lane, Lacey Green, Princes Risborough: Archaeological Recording Action.

Location

Grid reference Centred SP 82538 00266 (238m by 417m)
Civil Parish LACEY GREEN, Wycombe, Buckinghamshire

Finds (2)

  • POLLEN (Early Iron Age to Saxon - 700 BC? to 1065 AD?)
  • WATERLOGGED SAMPLE (Early Iron Age to Saxon - 700 BC? to 1065 AD?)

Related Monuments/Buildings (1)

Related Events/Activities (7)

  • Event - Intervention: Evaluation trial trenching (Ref: GRIM04) (EBC16582)
  • Event - Intervention: Evaluation trial trenching (Ref: SLG 04/57) (EBC16472)
  • Event - Intervention: Evaluation trial trenching and environmental sampling (EBC16408)
  • Event - Survey: Magnetometry (and resistivity) survey (EBC16003)
  • Event - Intervention: Strip, map and record excavation (Ref: KLB 15/88) (EBC17711)
  • Event - Intervention: Watching brief (Ref: HLG 99) (EBC15892)
  • Event - Intervention: Watching Brief (Ref: PRL 512) (EBC16440)

Record last edited

Feb 14 2024 12:51PM

Comments and Feedback

Do you have any questions or more information about this record? Please feel free to comment below with your name and email address. All comments are submitted to the Heritage Portal maintainers for moderation, and we aim to respond/publish as soon as possible. Comments, questions and answers that may be helpful to other users will be retained and displayed along with the name you supply. The email address you supply will never be displayed or shared.