Devil's Dyke, near Burwell, Cambridgeshire

Devil's Dyke, near Burwell, Cambridgeshire

Archaeology

A view along the dyke (on the left, with the ditch in the centre), looking south about a mile south of Reach. The dyke runs for about 12 kilometres from Reach in the north to Woodditton in the south, passing through the middle of Newmarket racecourse along the way. Its final phase dates from around 600, so probably demarcated a boundary between rival Anglo-Saxon kingdoms (perhaps East Anglia and Mercia?). It survives along its full length to nearly its original height (up to 11 metres), and a footpath runs along the top the entire distance.

Jonathan Dore

c.600

2008-06-14