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Berechurch Dyke is a linear earthwork forming part of the defensive system associated with the Iron Age oppidum at Camulodunum, near Colchester in Essex. Dating to the Late Iron Age, probably the 1st century BC, the dyke represents one of several parallel banks and ditches that enclosed and demarcated the extensive settlement territory of this major British proto-urban centre. The earthwork survives as a substantial bank with associated ditch, elements of which remain visible in the landscape despite agricultural use and development over subsequent centuries. As a component of Camulodunum's fortification system, Berechurch Dyke is significant for understanding the scale and organisation of pre-Conquest British settlement and the territorial control exercised by the Trinovantian elite before Roman conquest in AD 43.
Berechurch Dyke: part of the Iron Age territorial oppidum and Romano-British town of Camulodunum is a scheduled monument protected by Historic England under reference 1019968. View the official record →
Berechurch Dyke is a linear earthwork forming part of the defensive system associated with the Iron Age oppidum at Camulodunum, near Colchester in Essex. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by Historic England (NHLE) under reference 1019968.
Berechurch Dyke: part of the Iron Age territorial oppidum and Romano-British town of Camulodunum is a Scheduled Ancient Monument, legally protected by Historic England (NHLE) — the body responsible for designating and safeguarding heritage sites in England. The official designation reference is 1019968.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Tumulus NW of East Donyland Hall (2.9 km), Remains of St Mary's Church (4.6 km), Roman saltern 750m north west of Maydays Farm (6.2 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 15 strands of Berechurch Dyke: part of the Iron Age territorial oppidum and Romano-British town of Camulodunum's history, each drawn from the record and mapped to the exact spot:
Every location is different. Not every section appears for every place, only what the historical record actually holds turns up in a report.
Berechurch Dyke: part of the Iron Age territorial oppidum and Romano-British town of Camulodunum stands on Thames Group, bedrock that formed in the Eocene. The rock here is clay, silt, sand and gravel.