<< Other Photo Pages >> Riddlesdown Newe Ditch - Misc. Earthwork in England in Greater London

Submitted by Andy B on Wednesday, 25 March 2020  Page Views: 2085

Multi-periodSite Name: Riddlesdown Newe Ditch Alternative Name: New Ditch
Country: England
NOTE: This site is 2.685 km away from the location you searched for.
County: Greater London Type: Misc. Earthwork
Nearest Town: Croydon  Nearest Village: Purley
Map Ref: TQ3230460572
Latitude: 51.328864N  Longitude: 0.102422W
Condition:
5Perfect
4Almost Perfect
3Reasonable but with some damage
2Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site
1Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks
0No data.
-1Completely destroyed
 4 Ambience:
5Superb
4Good
3Ordinary
2Not Good
1Awful
0No data.
 3 Access:
5Can be driven to, probably with disabled access
4Short walk on a footpath
3Requiring a bit more of a walk
2A long walk
1In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find
0No data.
 no data Accuracy:
5co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates
4co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map
3co-ordinates scaled from a bad map
2co-ordinates of the nearest village
1co-ordinates of the nearest town
0no data
 5

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Riddlesdown Newe Ditch
Riddlesdown Newe Ditch submitted by Creative Commons : Going by the location on Geograph this photo shows the Bronze Age Newe Ditch. Description: The house is set back at the end of Downs Court Road. Riddlesdown was one of the four ‘Coulsdon Commons’ purchased by the City of London Corporation in 1883 as part of its policy of acquiring land for public open spaces within 25 miles of the City. Although no longer registered as a common, i... (Vote or comment on this photo)
Thousands of years of human activity on Riddlesdown has left a range of features including earthworks, old trackways and the course of a Roman road. In more recent times, livestock have grazed pasture and kept open the characteristic downland landscape.

The deep ditch running along the north-western boundary of Riddlesdown is protected as a Scheduled Ancient Monument by Historic England, and hints at early human activity on the site. Old trackways, causeways, depressions and even possible traces of Iron Age fields, led Croydon Council to designate the whole of Riddlesdown as an Archaeological Priority Zone.

The old Riddlesdown Road that runs through the middle of the site is believed to be of Roman origin and ran from London to the coast. It was probably a transport link between networks of Roman iron works across Southeast England.

For most of its history, Riddlesdown was used as pasture and was one of many downs and commons in the area grazed by livestock. With the exception of Coombes Wood, which is an Ancient Woodland, the site was much more open. It is depicted in early editions of Ordnance Survey maps as being covered by only scattered scrub.

Source: https://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/things-to-do/green-spaces/city-commons/riddlesdown/Pages/Changing-History.aspx
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Nearby Images from Geograph Britain and Ireland:
TQ3260 : Riddlesdown Common by Stephen McKay
by Stephen McKay
©2019(licence)
TQ3260 : Riddlesdown by Peter Trimming
by Peter Trimming
©2020(licence)
TQ3260 : Riddlesdown Common by Stephen McKay
by Stephen McKay
©2019(licence)
TQ3260 : The way on to Riddlesdown by Marathon
by Marathon
©2012(licence)
TQ3260 : Downs Court Road, Purley by Dr Neil Clifton
by Dr Neil Clifton
©2008(licence)

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"Riddlesdown Newe Ditch" | Login/Create an Account | 2 News and Comments
  
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Re: Riddlesdown Newe Ditch Street View by Andy B on Wednesday, 25 March 2020
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The Archaeological Priority Area covers Newe Ditch which is a Scheduled Monument and an area surrounding Riddlesdown Road and its junction with Mitchley Avenue where Anglo-Saxon burials have been found. The APA is classed as Tier 1 because it covers a Scheduled Monument while the Saxon burials are part of a cemetery that is an undesignated asset judged equivalent to a Scheduled Monument.

Newe Ditch is a bank and ditch that runs in a south-west to north-east direction across the north-western edge of Riddlesdown. The scheduled area covers the bank and ditch between Riddlesdown Road and Famet Close, a length of approximately 200 metres. However, the scheduled area should not be regarded as the limit of the ditch’s extent since it continues beyond Riddlesdown Road into Coombes Wood.

There are a number of other linear features on Riddlesdown which are less discernible which include a ditch that runs along the north side of a footpath that emerges from Famet Close and another ditch which runs downhill from Downs Court Road. It is possible that all these were once part of a single interconnecting feature of which the Newe Ditch is the most obvious visible part.

The precise age of the ditch has never been conclusively established although it has often been referred to as a Bronze Age feature. Its purpose is also unclear. It is situated to the north-west of the highest part of Riddlesdown where a prehistoric settlement may have been located and it may have been part of an enclosure for that settlement. However, no trace of such a settlement has been found and neither has any other part of the ditch and bank although various other ditches on Riddlesdown may have been different parts of an encircling feature. Since it is not high enough to serve any meaningful defensive purpose it may have been constructed as a territorial boundary marker.

On an OS map from 1868 the ditch is marked as “Newedich or Widedich” and consists of three sets of banks and ditches but on this map the feature is not shown continuing further north-east into Coombes Wood. By the 1930s two of the three sets of banks and ditches had been removed by housing built along Riddlesdown Road and Downs Court Road although traces of the banks and ditches may still exist in the gardens of these houses. At least eight skeletons were found when Mitchley Avenue and Riddlesdown Road were being constructed in the late 1920s. They were between what is now the junction

28 between the two roads and the gardens of 154, 156 and 158 Riddlesdown Road. A knife was found with one of the burials which dated them to the Saxon period although few other grave goods were recovered which could indicate that these burials were Christian. Further burials have since been discovered including three from the garden of 119 Riddlesdown Road.

In April 2014 a number of human bones were recovered from underneath the front driveway of 176 Riddlesdown Road during building work and were radiocarbon dated to between 670 and 775 AD. It therefore seems clear that an Anglo-Saxon cemetery was located in what is now Riddlesdown Road although its precise extent is unknown and would be difficult to establish. Other Anglo-Saxon cemeteries have been found in high areas of Croydon such as Farthing Down although whether the Riddlesdown Road burials had any relationship with Newe Ditch is unknown.

The potential Anglo-Saxon cemetery on Russell Hill is situated close to Mere Bank which may be another prehistoric boundary feature and perhaps these Saxon burials were also placed here because of the proximity to Newe Ditch.

Newe Ditch is a significant visible feature within the landscape worthy of scheduling. Its precise purpose and age is currently unknown but understanding its relationship with other features on Riddlesdown may help to clarify its role and what sort of prehistoric activity it may have been related to. While the Newe Ditch and Anglo-Saxon cemetery may n

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Riddlesdown Newe Ditch Street View by Andy B on Wednesday, 25 March 2020
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https://goo.gl/maps/t34cZSeBrZi8WC8P8

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