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Cricklade town banks is an ancient monument comprising the defensive earthwork fortifications that enclosed the Saxon town of Cricklade in Wiltshire. The banks, which survive as substantial linear earthworks, date from the Anglo-Saxon period and represent part of the defensive system constructed around this important early medieval settlement. Cricklade was designated as a burh, or fortified town, within the strategic defensive network established by the kingdom of Wessex, likely under Alfred the Great or his successors in the ninth century. The surviving banks demonstrate the substantial engineering effort required to protect an urban settlement of early medieval significance during a period of Viking incursion and territorial consolidation.
Cricklade town banks is a scheduled monument protected by Historic England under reference 1002997. View the official record →
Cricklade town banks is an ancient monument comprising the defensive earthwork fortifications that enclosed the Saxon town of Cricklade in Wiltshire. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by Historic England (NHLE) under reference 1002997.
Cricklade town banks 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 1002997.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Cross in St Sampson's churchyard (0.4 km), Romano-British villa at Kingshill Farm (1.8 km), Moated site and surrounding earthwork enclosure, 100m south of Chelworth Farm (2.6 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 15 strands of Cricklade town banks'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.
Cricklade town banks stands on Kellaways Formation And Oxford Clay Formation (Undifferentiated), bedrock that formed in the Oxfordian. The rock here is mudstone, siltstone and sandstone.