Bran Ditch: an Anglo-Saxon bank and ditch between Fowlmere and Heydon, including an Anglo-Saxon burial ground, a section of medieval lynchet and an Iron Age enclosure

Scheduled area

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History & significance

Bran Ditch is an Anglo-Saxon defensive bank and ditch situated between Fowlmere and Heydon in Essex. The monument comprises multiple archaeological features spanning several periods, including an Iron Age enclosure, an Anglo-Saxon linear earthwork with associated burial ground, and a section of medieval lynchet, demonstrating continuous or repeated use of the landscape across more than a thousand years. The Anglo-Saxon phase of the earthwork represents a significant defensive or boundary feature of the early medieval period, whilst the presence of burials indicates settlement and social organisation in the vicinity. The survival of these overlapping features makes Bran Ditch an important record of land use and landscape development from the Iron Age through the medieval period.

Bran Ditch: an Anglo-Saxon bank and ditch between Fowlmere and Heydon, including an Anglo-Saxon burial ground, a section of medieval lynchet and an Iron Age enclosure is a scheduled monument protected by Historic England under reference 1410907. View the official record →

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