Monument record 0127307000 - PITSTONE HILL

Plan Form - Linear.
On top of Pitstone Hill, between the angle of the boundary dyke (No. I) and the flint mines, is a short length of causewayed ditch (No. II). The ditch
segments are less well defined than the other earthworks on the hill, contain ing more silt and having an appearance of greater antiquity. There are three lengths of ditch stretching for 70 yards from the dyke angle to the fence around the ploughed hilltop. The material from the ditch has been dumped on the outer, downhill side. The resultant bank is about a foot above present ground level, and the ditch about a foot below. Between each segment of ditch is a narrow indistinct causeway marked by a slight rise in the ground and a break in the luxuriant grass which grows over the ditches. Aerial photographs have so far failed to trace the ditch into the ploughed land on the north-east of Pitstone Hill, and it is clear that its western end has been destroyed by boundary dyke I which utilized its course before it turned at right angles back down the hill (B1).
Dyke II referred to by Dyer as a 'causewayed ditch'; no real evidence for bank/causeways - is a spur off dyke I (B2).
Detailed topographic survey carried out by TimeScape and Network Archaeology between January and March 1999 recorded surviving earthworks (B9).
Dyke II as referred to by Dyer. Ditch and bank forming short, curving length of 'Grim's Ditch' on Pitstone Hill. Climbs up slope from lower ditch to top of western escarpment. To NW terminates short of lower ditch system. To SE fades out adjacent to present footpath. Earthworks low and rounded, and much less prominent than lower ditch system. Bank up to 0.4m high, amplitude 0.75m (B10).
A stretch of ditch with a continuous bank lying outside it. The curving course suggests that it may have formed part of an enclosure, the rest of which has been levelled by ploughing. The earthwork is probably prehistoric, but the suggested causeways in the ditch are more likely to represent post-medieval damage. The identification was based partly on the proximity of alleged Neolithic flint mines, which have also been discredited (B13).

In October 1995, RCHME carried out a Level 1 survey of an earthwork on Pitsone Hill as part of a national project to record industry and enclosure in the Neolithic. The length of curving bank and ditch is truncated to the north by a later linear ditch that may incorporate the earlier earthwork for part of its course. To the south-east, it runs into a ploughed field, where it no longer survives as an earthwork. Its position on the summit of the hill and slightly curving course suggest that it may once have formed an enclosure. Both bank and ditch survive to c.0.5m high. The ditch is unusual in lying inside the bank. The alleged causeways in the ditch could not be confirmed. At the north end, a probable gunpit lies on top of the bank, and spoil from this has silted across the ditch, while to the south a Post-medieval or later lynchet overlies the ditch, again giving it a somewhat causewayed appearance. No causeways are present in the bank. While the bank and ditch may well represent a prehistoric enclosure, a Neolithic date seems unlikely (B14).
This record includes National Record of the Historic Environment Information provided by Historic England on 4 June 2025 licensed under the Open Government Licence (B12).