Grim's Ditch, Grim's Dyke (also Grimsdyke or Grimes Dike in derivative names) or Grim's Bank is a name shared by a number of prehistoric bank and ditch earthworks. Enigmatic in both their naming and original function, examples are found across the chalk uplands of southern England.[1]
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The purpose of these earthworks remains a mystery, but as they are too small for military use they may have served to demarcate territory.[2] Archaeologists agree that Iron Age peoples built the earthworks around 300 BC. Today, Grim's Ditch forms a section of The Ridgeway National Trail, a long distance path and one of the 15 National Trails in England and Wales.
The name "Grim's Ditch" is Old English in origin, and originates from Grim, one of the many names for the Anglo-Saxon god Woden (called Odin by the Norse) and meaning "the masked one". Among Woden's many roles is that of a god of war, and it may be that the Anglo-Saxons perceived the earthworks as military in function and therefore ascribed them to him.
The name Graham's Dyke (an alternative name for the Antonine Wall) is a variant of Grim's Dyke.
The West Berkshire ditch is a 5 miles (8 km) section on the Berkshire Downs, the chalk escarpment above the Oxfordshire villages of Ardington, Hendred and Chilton.
One Hampshire ditch encloses an area of 16 square miles (41 km2) on the Wiltshire and Dorset borders.[3] The earthwork runs for about 14 miles (23 km), and is a double-banked structure with a ditch between the banks. The Royal Commission's survey of Bokerley Dyke disputed the idea of Grim's Ditch being a single monument, and suggested it was in at least three parts. English Heritage's monument scheduling suggests that Grim's Ditch may be of Bronze Age or Early Iron Age date.[4]
Another can be found in west Hampshire, mid-way between the villages of Upton and Netherton.
The South Oxfordshire ditch is a 5-mile (8 km) 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 Winterbrook Bridge, and dated as late Iron Age/early Roman. The ditch has a bank on the north side which suggests that its function was to exclude passage into the southernmost part of Oxfordshire.[5]
The Chilterns ditch starts at Bradenham, further north in the Chilterns than the end of the South Oxfordshire ditch. There are separate sections extending some 30km north to Ivinghoe, partly along the Chiltern escarpment. Its size varies considerably. Its purpose is uncertain, and different sections may have had different functions.
Grim's Ditch (also known as Grim's Dyke) on Harrow Weald Common at the north western edge of Greater London extends for some 3 km although it was once longer. The nearby house called Grim's Dyke, built in 1872, was once the home of W. S. Gilbert and is now operated as Grim's Dyke Hotel.
| Western end | Eastern end | |
|---|---|---|
| SU366566 | SU378565 | West Hampshire |
| SU042192 | SU133210 | Bokerley Dyke, Martin, Hampshire |
| Grim's Ditch, Dorset and Hampshire | ||
| SP359184 | SP426183 | North Oxfordshire |
| SU608882 | SU673872 | South Oxfordshire |
| SU4284 | SU6487 | West Berkshire |
| SU834977 | TL025085 | Chilterns |
| TQ114904 | TQ141929 | Harrow |