Grim's Ditch

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Grim's Ditch or Grim's Dyke (also Grimsdyke in derivative names) is a name shared by a number of bank and ditch earthworks found on the chalk uplands of southern England.

Their original purpose is unknown but, as they are too small to be of military use, they may have served to demarcate territory. There is consensus among archaeologists that they were built around 300 BC.

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[edit] Locations

Grid reference  
west east  
SU042192 SU133210 Bokerley Dyke, Martin, Hampshire
SP359184 SP426183 north Oxfordshire
SU608882 SU673872 south Oxfordshire
SU4284 SU6487 West Berkshire - see below
SU834977 TL025085 see Grim's Ditch (Chilterns)
TQ114904 TQ141929 see Grim's Ditch (Harrow)

[edit] Berkshire

The West Berkshire ditch is a 5 - 6 mile section on the Berkshire Downs, the chalk escarpment above the Oxfordshire villages of Ardington, Hendred and Chilton.

[edit] South Oxfordshire

Grim's Ditch, near Hailey, South Oxfordshire
Grim's Ditch, near Hailey, South Oxfordshire

The South Oxfordshire ditch is a 5-mile section between Mongewell, on the banks of the Thames near Wallingford and Hayden Farm near Nettlebed in the Chilterns escarpment. Part of the western end was excavated during the building of Wallingford By-pass Bridge, and dated as late Iron Age/early Roman. The ditch forms part of The Ridgeway footpath.

[edit] See also

The name Graham's Dyke (an alternative name for the Antonine Wall) is believed to be a variant of Grim's Dyke.