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Grim's Ditch is a linear earthwork of Iron Age or Romano-British date running across the Berkshire landscape between Southfield Shaw and the Streatley parish boundary. The monument consists of a substantial ditch with an accompanying bank, forming a defensive or territorial boundary feature typical of prehistoric and early Roman settlement patterns in southern Britain. This particular section, extending approximately one mile in length, represents part of a wider system of similar ditches recorded across the region, though the precise dating and original function of the feature remain subjects of archaeological interpretation. The earthwork survives as a notable topographical feature and provides evidence for land division and settlement organisation during the later prehistoric or Roman period.
Grim's Ditch: section 1 mile long E from Southfield Shaw to Streatley parish boundary is a scheduled monument protected by Historic England under reference 1006981. View the official record →
Grim's Ditch is a linear earthwork of Iron Age or Romano-British date running across the Berkshire landscape between Southfield Shaw and the Streatley parish boundary. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by Historic England (NHLE) under reference 1006981.
Grim's Ditch: section 1 mile long E from Southfield Shaw to Streatley parish boundary 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 1006981.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Grim's Ditch: two sections in Portobello Wood, Holies Shaw and High Holies Wood Gap (3 km), Bowl barrow in the north-west corner of Town Copse (3.1 km), Dovecote 60m north of Place Manor Cottage (3.3 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 15 strands of Grim's Ditch: section 1 mile long E from Southfield Shaw to Streatley parish boundary'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.
Grim's Ditch: section 1 mile long E from Southfield Shaw to Streatley parish boundary stands on White Chalk Subgroup, bedrock that formed in the Maastrichtian. The rock here is chalk.