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Bran Ditch is a linear earthwork of Anglo-Saxon date situated between Fowlmere and Heydon in Essex, comprising a substantial bank and ditch that survives as a prominent landscape feature. The monument encompasses multiple periods of use and activity, including an Iron Age enclosure, an Anglo-Saxon burial ground, and a section of medieval lynchet field system, demonstrating long-term occupation and exploitation of the site. The Anglo-Saxon bank and ditch represents a significant territorial or defensive boundary feature from the early medieval period, whilst the associated burial ground attests to contemporary settlement activity in the vicinity. The stratification of archaeological features from different periods provides evidence for the continuity and changing character of land use across more than a millennium.
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 →
Bran Ditch is a linear earthwork of Anglo-Saxon date situated between Fowlmere and Heydon in Essex, comprising a substantial bank and ditch that survives as a prominent landscape feature. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by Historic England (NHLE) under reference 1410907.
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 Ancient Monument, legally protected by Historic England (NHLE) — the body responsible for designating and safeguarding heritage sites in England. The official designation reference is 1410907.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Barley lock-up (4.5 km), Chiswick Hall moated site (5.9 km), Moated site, Little Cokenach (7.7 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 15 strands of 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'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.
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 stands on White Chalk Subgroup, bedrock that formed in the Maastrichtian. The rock here is chalk.