This is a surviving 370m stretch of "Roman Ridge" (also called Roman Rig or Ridge), a substantial linear earthwork south of Abdy Farm near Wentworth, South Yorkshire. The Roman Ridge is a double-banked dyke system running roughly 11 miles from Sheffield to Mexborough; despite the name, its origin is generally considered pre-Roman Iron Age, likely associated with the Brigantes, though it may have remained a significant boundary feature into the Roman period.
Source: Pleiades — A Community-Built Gazetteer and Graph of Ancient Places. View the Pleiades record →
The dyke is widely interpreted as a territorial or defensive boundary of the Brigantian polity, possibly thrown up in response to Roman advance into northern Britain in the later 1st century AD, or as an earlier intra-tribal frontier between the Brigantes and Corieltauvi. Its scale makes it one of the most substantial linear earthworks in northern England.
The monument is known primarily from earthwork survey rather than systematic excavation, with the Abdy Farm section preserving clear bank-and-ditch profiles in places where elsewhere the line has been ploughed out or built over. Limited sectioning elsewhere along its course has produced no closely datable artefacts, leaving its chronology a matter of ongoing debate.
This is a surviving 370m stretch of "Roman Ridge" (also called Roman Rig or Ridge), a substantial linear earthwork south of Abdy Farm near Wentworth, South Yorkshire. It is recorded in the Pleiades gazetteer of ancient places as a site site from the Roman period in Britain.
Roman Ridge: section 400yds (370m) long S of Abdy Farm is classified as a Roman site — a civilian site in the Pleiades ancient world gazetteer. Roman Britain's archaeology encompasses thousands of sites ranging from legionary fortresses and marching camps to villas, temples and towns.
Several Roman sites lie within a short distance, including Roman Ridge: section 300yds (270m) long on Birchcliff Bank (0.8 km), Roman Ridge: section 400yds (370m) long in Wath Wood (0.8 km), Roman Ridge: section 300yds (270m) long N of Birchwood (E of Chemical Cottages) (1 km). Aubrey Research maps over 2,200 Roman sites across Britain, drawn from the Pleiades ancient world gazetteer.
Aubrey Research generates detailed historical reports for any location in Britain, incorporating Roman heritage, Domesday Book records, scheduled monument data, archaeological finds and much more. Enter a nearby address to begin.
Aubrey generates in-depth historical research for any address in Britain — drawing on Roman heritage, Domesday records, scheduled monument data, archaeological finds and medieval history to reveal the complete story of a landscape.
Research the area around Roman Ridge: section 400yds (370m) long S of Abdy Farm