Information for record number MWA1202:
Hobditch Causeway

Summary A linear feature, possibly part of a boundary, known as Hobditch Causeway, is visible as an earthwork. It is probably of Iron age or Roman date. It is located near Dean's Green.
What Is It?  
Type: Linear Earthwork, Boundary
Period: Early Iron Age - Romano-British (800 BC - 409 AD)
Where Is It?  
Parish: Tanworth in Arden
District: Stratford on Avon, Warwickshire
Grid Reference: SP 13 68
(Data represented on this map shows the current selected record as a single point, this is for illustrative purposes only and does not represent an accurate or complete representation of archaeological sites or features)
Level of Protection National - Old SMR PrefRef (Grade: )
Scheduled Monument (Grade: )
Sites & Monuments Record
Description

  
Source Number  

1 A linear earthwork 15m wide and 1m high with a ditch on either side. It runs for about 1.1 km ENE from the hamlet of Dean's Green to the River Alne. A cutting was taken at SP1368 and indicated that the earthwork was the agger of a previously unknown Roman road. It was composed of local red clay thrown up from the ditches and capped with a layer of gravel. Evidence of Romano-British occupation from the side ditches (PRN 4791).
2 The section has been completed. From S to N the earthwork consists of a roughly V-shaped ditch 5.2m wide and 2.1m deep. An embankment more than 15m wide, surviving to a height of just under 1.5m, with a more U-shaped ditch to the N, 5.5m wide and 2m deep. Both ditches seem to have been recut a number of times. The fill of the S ditch, above the bottom 0.6m, contained much Romano-British occupation debris. The N ditch contained water-borne sand and silt and two tips of occupation debris. In both ditches the pottery is of two distinct phases - late 2nd century and 4th century. No finds from the primary silt. A series of trenches located a further V-shaped ditch parallel to the embankment and 20m to the S. This was 2.7m wide and 1.4m deep. This appears to have been a drainage ditch to the S of a gravel road c5.8m wide. The ditch was backfilled soon after construction.
3 1971: A new section revealed two ditches, but the ditch sequence was quite different from that in the early section. The site may be multi-phased.
4 The earthwork probably represents a Roman road. However, the double/triple bank between Dean's Green and Tanworth Lane gives the impression of a defensive barrier.
5 First excavation report (1965-1969).
6 1978: A trench was cut across the ploughed-down remains of the S bank. A pebble layer may represent the foundation of the bank. This bank was later cut into by buildings.
7 A broad double-ditched embankment with the significant name 'Hobditch'. It appears to be too wide and pretentious to be considered a Roman road.
8 Partly bivallate linear earthwork, of uncertain date and purpose, standing some 2m high.
9 Note on excavations reported in WMANS 21 (1978).
10 1987: Further lengths of this major boundary system were located. The date and significance of the earthworks are uncertain. Whether it is more closely comparable to the so-called 'territorial oppida' or linear ditch systems of the 'Jurassic spine' is uncertain.
11 excavation undertaken in 1987 in advance of the construction of the M40 motorway confirmed that a continuous hedge at Tapster Lane, Lapworth, overlay part of the Hobditch earthwork. A single radiocarbon date of 2530 +/- 90 BP was obtained from an associated ditch. This suggests that the earthwork is pre-Roman but it cannot be regarded as a definite date for the monument. Survey work indicated traces of two other possible alignments of earthworks which may show that hobditch forms part of a territorial earthwork complex. However, a second excavation at Nuthurst Lane, Hockley Heath (SP 1471), failed to to confirm one of the possible alignments.
12 Plans.
13 Correspondence from 1972.
14 List of finds from 1971. Six sherds, one Romano-British, three Medieval, two unidentified, and a piece of ironwork.
15 Undated site descriptions.
16 Photocopies of maps.
17 Field survey form from 1971.
18 Correspondence from 1982 in relation to protecting the site.
19 Correspondence from 1983.
20 Correspondence from 1984.
21 Geophysical surveys carried out in 1985 produced no helpful data.
22 Archival correspondence from 1986.
23 Estate agent's brochure for the sale of Merryman's Farm in 1987.
24 Correspondence relating to the sale in
23.
25 Correspondence and a short report from 1988 and 1997 with personal recollections of the excavations in the 1960s.
26 Copy of a letter from English Heritage about protection of the site.
27 Negative archaeological evaluation close to the Hob ditch at Ullenhall.
28 A deposit, thought likely to be the fill of a ditch running along the southern side of the causeway, was recorded during evaluation at Three Firs, Dean's Green, Ullenhall. The ditch could not be excavated due to the presence of a culvert along the top. This site is at the point where the earthwork remains of Hob's ditch end and the orientation is reputed to significantly alter, turning through nearly 90 degrees to run from Dean's Green to Ullenhall.
29 Lidar imagery revealed a whole kilometre of additional ditch running west into the edge of Ullenhall. The far eastern end doesn't really show at all and perhaps does not exist?
 
Sources
Source No: 9
Source Type: Article in serial
Title: Britannia: Roman Britain in 1978
Author/originator: R Goodburn, M W C Hassall and R S O Tomlin
Date: 1979
Page Number: 267-356
Volume/Sheet: 10
   
Source No: 13
Source Type: Correspondence
Title: Hobbs Ditch
Author/originator: WM
Date: 1972
Page Number:
Volume/Sheet:
   
Source No: 18
Source Type: Correspondence
Title: Hobditch
Author/originator: WM
Date: 1982
Page Number:
Volume/Sheet:
   
Source No: 20
Source Type: Correspondence
Title: Hobditch
Author/originator: Carver M
Date: 1984
Page Number:
Volume/Sheet:
   
Source No: 22
Source Type: Correspondence
Title: Hobditch
Author/originator: WM
Date: 1986
Page Number:
Volume/Sheet:
   
Source No: 22
Source Type: Correspondence
Title: Hobditch Causeway
Author/originator: Bassett S
Date: 1983
Page Number:
Volume/Sheet:
   
Source No: 24
Source Type: Correspondence
Title: Merryman's Hill Farm/Hob Ditch
Author/originator: various
Date: 1987
Page Number:
Volume/Sheet:
   
Source No: 25
Source Type: Correspondence
Title: Hobditch
Author/originator: Colin Baddeley
Date: 1988/1997
Page Number:
Volume/Sheet:
   
Source No: 26
Source Type: Correspondence
Title: Hobditch
Author/originator: EH
Date: 1990
Page Number:
Volume/Sheet:
   
Source No: 15
Source Type: Descriptive Text
Title: Hob Ditch Causeway
Author/originator:
Date:
Page Number:
Volume/Sheet:
   
Source No: 27
Source Type: Evaluation Report
Title: The Bungalow, Blunts Green, Ullenhall, Warwickshire: Archaeological Evaluation
Author/originator: Palmer S & Wright K
Date: 2012
Page Number:
Volume/Sheet: 1213
   
Source No: 28
Source Type: Evaluation Report
Title: Archaeological Evaluation and Salvage Recording at Three Firs, Dean's Green, Ullenhall, Warwickshire
Author/originator: C Rann
Date: 2008
Page Number:
Volume/Sheet:
   
Source No: 21
Source Type: Geophysical Survey Report
Title: Hobditch Causeway
Author/originator: University of Birmingham
Date: 1986
Page Number:
Volume/Sheet:
   
Source No: 16
Source Type: Map
Title: Hob Ditch
Author/originator:
Date:
Page Number:
Volume/Sheet:
   
Source No: 12
Source Type: Plan
Title: TBAS vol 99
Author/originator: Cracknell S and Hingley R
Date: 1995
Page Number: 49, 51, 53
Volume/Sheet: 99
   
Source No: 17
Source Type: Record Card/Form
Title: Blunts Green
Author/originator:
Date: 1971
Page Number:
Volume/Sheet: Field Survey
   
Source No: 7
Source Type: Record Card/Form
Title: OS Card 14NE9
Author/originator: Ordnance Survey
Date:
Page Number:
Volume/Sheet: 14NE9
   
Source No: 1
Source Type: Serial
Title: WMANS no 9 1966
Author/originator: Place U
Date: 1966
Page Number: 2-3
Volume/Sheet: 9
   
Source No: 11
Source Type: Serial
Title: TBAS vol 99
Author/originator: Cracknell S and Hingley R
Date: 1995
Page Number: 47-56
Volume/Sheet: 99
   
Source No: 6
Source Type: Serial
Title: WMANS no 21
Author/originator: Hutty B
Date: 1978
Page Number: 47-9
Volume/Sheet: 21
   
Source No: 3
Source Type: Serial
Title: WMANS no 14
Author/originator: Perry J
Date: 1971
Page Number: 14
Volume/Sheet: 14
   
Source No: 5
Source Type: Serial
Title: TBAS vol 87
Author/originator: Hutty B
Date: 1975
Page Number: 91
Volume/Sheet: 87
   
Source No: 4
Source Type: Serial
Title: TBAS vol 85
Author/originator: Hutty B
Date: 1973
Page Number: 1-6
Volume/Sheet: 85
   
Source No: 2
Source Type: Serial
Title: WMANS no 10
Author/originator: Place U
Date: 1967
Page Number: 10
Volume/Sheet: 10
   
Source No: 8
Source Type: Scheduling record
Title: Hob Ditch Earthworks
Author/originator: DoE
Date: 1974
Page Number:
Volume/Sheet: AM7
   
Source No: 14
Source Type: Unpublished document
Title: Hobsditch, Blunts Green
Author/originator:
Date: 1971
Page Number:
Volume/Sheet:
   
Source No: 23
Source Type: Unpublished document
Title: Merryman's Hill Farm
Author/originator: Charles R. Phillips
Date: 1987
Page Number:
Volume/Sheet:
   
Source No: 29
Source Type: Verbal communication
Title: Pers. Comm.
Author/originator: B Gethin
Date: 2013 onwards
Page Number:
Volume/Sheet:
   
Images:  
There are no images associated with this record.  
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Glossary

 
Word or Phrase
Description  
none Scheduled Monument Scheduled Ancient Monuments (SAMs) are those archaeological sites which are legally recognised as being of national importance. They can range in date from prehistoric times to the Cold War period. They can take many different forms, including disused buildings or sites surviving as earthworks or cropmarks.

SAMs are protected by law from unlicensed disturbance and metal detecting. Written consent from the Secretary of State must be obtained before any sort of work can begin, including archaeological work such as geophysical survey or archaeological excavation. There are nearly 200 SAMs in Warwickshire.
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source Britannia Britannia, the journal of the Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies which contains articles about the archaeology of Roman Britain. It is published annually and copies are held at the Warwickshire Sites and Monuments Record. back
source OS Card Ordnance Survey Record Card. Before the 1970s the Ordnance Survey (OS) were responsible for recording archaeological monuments during mapping exercises. This helped the Ordnance Survey to decide which monuments to publish on maps. During these exercises the details of the monuments were written down on record cards. Copies of some of the cards are kept at the Warwickshire Sites and Monuments Record. The responsibility for recording archaeological monuments later passed to the Royal Commission on Ancient and Historic Monuments. back
source TBAS Transactions of the Birmingham and Warwickshire Archaeological Society is a journal produced by the society annually. It contains articles about archaeological field work that has taken place in Birmingham and Warwickshire in previous years. Copies of the journal are kept by the Warwickshire Sites and Monuments Record. back
source WMANS West Midlands Archaeological News Sheet, a publication that was produced each year, this later became West Midlands Archaeology. The West Midlands Arcaheological News Sheet contains reports about archaeological work that was carried out in the West Midlands region in the previous year. It includes information about sites dating from the Prehistoric to the Post Medieval periods. It was produced the Department of Extramural Studies at Birmingham University. Copies are held at the Warwickshire Sites and Monuments Record. back
technique Field Survey The term ‘field survey’ is used to describe all work that does not disturb archaeological deposits below the ground through an excavation. Field survey techniques involve recording measurements that help archaeologists draw plans or diagrams of archaeological features. There are a variety of different field survey techniques, including geophysical survey, building recording survey, field walking survey, landscape survey and earthwork survey. back
technique Geophysical Survey The measuring and recording of electrical resistivity or magnetism in order to determine the existence and outline of buried features such as walls and ditches. Geophysical techniques include resistivity survey, magnetometer survey and ground penetrating radar. View Image back
technique Earthwork Earthworks can take the form of banks, ditches and mounds. They are usually created for a specific purpose. A bank, for example, might be the remains of a boundary between two or more fields. Some earthworks may be all that remains of a collapsed building, for example, the grassed-over remains of building foundations.

In the winter, when the sun is lower in the sky than during the other seasons, earthworks have larger shadows. From the air, archaeologists are able to see the patterns of the earthworks more easily. Earthworks can sometimes be confusing when viewed at ground level, but from above, the general plan is much clearer.

Archaeologists often carry out an aerial survey or an earthwork survey to help them understand the lumps and bumps they can see on the ground.
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technique excavation Archaeologists excavate sites so that they can find information and recover archaeological materials before they are destroyed by erosion, construction or changes in land-use.

Depending on how complicated and widespread the archaeological deposits are, excavation can be done by hand or with heavy machinery. Archaeologists may excavate a site in a number of ways; either by open area excavation, by digging a test pit or a trial trench.
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period Iron Age About 800 BC to 43 AD

The Iron Age comes after the Bronze Age and before the Roman period. It is a time when people developed the skills and knowledge to work and use iron, hence the name ‘Iron Age’ which is given to this period. Iron is a much tougher and more durable metal than bronze but it also requires more skill to make objects from it. People continued to use bronze during this period.
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period Roman About 43 AD to 409 AD (the 1st century AD to the 5th century AD)

The Roman period comes after the Iron Age and before the Saxon period.

The Roman period in Britain began in 43 AD when a Roman commander called Aulus Plautius invaded the south coast, near Kent. There were a series of skirmishes with the native Britons, who were defeated. In the months that followed, more Roman troops arrived and slowly moved westwards and northwards.
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period Medieval 1066 AD to 1539 AD (the 11th century AD to the 16th century AD)

The medieval period comes after the Saxon period and before the post medieval period.

The Medieval period begins in 1066 AD.
This was the year that the Normans, led by William the Conqueror (1066 – 1087), invaded England and defeated Harold Godwinson at the Battle of Hastings in East Sussex.
The Medieval period includes the first half of the Tudor period (1485 – 1603 AD), when the Tudor family reigned in England and eventually in Scotland too.

The end of the Medieval period is marked by Henry VIII’s (1509 – 1547) order for the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the years running up to 1539 AD. The whole of this period is sometimes called the Middle Ages.
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monument LAYER * An archaeological unit of soil in a horizontal plane which may seal features or be cut through by other features. back
monument SITE * Unclassifiable site with minimal information. Specify site type wherever possible. back
monument HAMLET * Small settlement with no ecclesiastical or lay administrative function. back
monument BUILDING * A structure with a roof to provide shelter from the weather for occupants or contents. Use specific type where known. back
monument CULVERT * A drainage structure that extends across and beneath roadways, canals or embankments. back
monument BOUNDARY * The limit to an area as defined on a map or by a marker of some form, eg. BOUNDARY WALL. Use specific type where known. back
monument EMBANKMENT * A long ridge of earth, rocks or gravel primarily constructed to carry a roadway. back
monument ROAD * A way between different places, used by horses, travellers on foot and vehicles. back
monument LINEAR FEATURE * A length of straight, curved or angled earthwork or cropmark of uncertain date or function. back
monument MOTORWAY * Fast arterial road with separate carriageways limited to motor vehicles back
monument CAUSEWAY * A road or pathway raised above surrounding low, wet or uneven ground. back
monument LINEAR EARTHWORK * A substantial bank and ditch forming a major boundary between two adjacent landholdings. Most date from the late Bronze Age and Iron Age. back
monument TRENCH * An excavation used as a means of concealment, protection or both. back
monument DITCH * A long and narrow hollow or trench dug in the ground, often used to carry water though it may be dry for much of the year. back
monument BARRIER * An obstruction, usually manmade, which is used to restrict or prevent access to a settlement, building or area of land. Use more specific type where known. back
monument HEDGE * Usually a row of bushes or small trees planted closely together to form a boundary between pieces of land or at the sides of a road. back
monument DRAINAGE DITCH * A long, narrow ditch designed to carry water away from a waterlogged area. back
monument BUNGALOW * A one-storey house. back
monument FARM * A tract of land, often including a farmhouse and ancillary buildings, used for the purpose of cultivation and the rearing of livestock, etc. Use more specific type where known. back
monument EARTHWORK * A bank or mound of earth used as a rampart or fortification. back

* Copyright of English Heritage (1999)

English Heritage National Monuments Record