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Monument details

Summary

Crop mark of track way running for c135. m before opening onto two enclosures c. 45m and 90m in length. Total length of feature c. 270m. Larger enclosure, more regular in shape, is abutted up smaller enclosure to SW, which is itself joined by the track way to the SE.

Visible in 1990 aerial photo.

Summary from record MWX43095:

Cropmarks of trackways and boundaries are visible in fields between Hersden and Upstreet on 1980s aerial photographs. Although not securely dated, it is likely that these features are of later prehistoric date.

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Monument Types

• ENCLOSURE (Unknown date)

Full description

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Crop mark of track way running for c135. m before opening onto two enclosures c. 45m and 90m in length. Total length of feature c. 270m. Larger enclosure, more regular in shape, is abutted up smaller enclosure to SW, which is itself joined by the track way to the SE.
Visible in 1990 aerial photo.

Description from record MWX43095:
Cropmarks of sections of trackways and boundaries are visible within an area of intense geological patterning in fields south of Island Road between Hersden and Upstreet on 1980s RCHME oblique aerial photographs [1].

The boundary is composed of a single ditch and is visible running roughly parallel to Island Road for 380m. There are three breaks in the ditch, it is unclear if these are actual breaks or merely where the feature is obscured by geological patterning. 40m to the south of the boundary ditch lie a series of ditched features which have been interpreted as trackways. These include a feature comprised of two parallel ditches, initially aligned SW-NE then curving to an follow approximate W-E course, visible running for 140m. A further ditch lies immediately to the north of the western end of the trackway. It follows a SW-NE alignment and is visible running for 160m. It runs parallel to the trackway for the first 80m of its course, then diverges from it, retaining a SW-NE alignment whilst the trackway curves away, creating a funnel-like arrangement with the trackway. There is a break in the ditch, it is unclear if this is an actual gap or merely where the feature is obscured by geological patterning.

There are several other cropmarked features in this area all of which are interpreted as deriving from later prehistoric to Romano-British activity (TR 26 SW 59, MWX43090, MWX43092.).

A transcription of the features recorded from aerial photography exists within a GIS layer held by this HER [2].

<2> Wessex Archaeology, 2009-10, South-East Rapid Coastal Zone Assessment Survey - Aerial Photographic Transcriptions (Digital archive). SWX15705.

<2> Wessex Archaeology, 2011, South East Rapid Coastal Zone Assessment Survey - (SE RCZAS) Phase 1: National Mapping Programme Report (Unpublished document). SKE25955.

<2> Cornwall Council Historic Environment Projects and Gloucestershire County Council, 2011, South East Rapid Coastal Zone Assessment Survey National Mapping Programme Components 1&2: Results of NMP Mapping (Unpublished document). SKE25954.

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