York Historic Environment Record

CROPMARK OF DOUBLE DITCHED ENCLOSURE ENCLOSING AN OTHER ON A SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT ALIGNMENT.

NMR Information:

SE 63765951: Cropmark of double ditched enclosure, enclosing another on a slightly different alignment, possibly an Iron Age settlement (1)(3). Part of the cropmark visible on OS air photographs (2). (1-3)

After examination of the photographs referenced by the previous
Authority, the alleged double ditches are not considered to be an
antiquity. The marks are not, strictly speaking, cropmarks - being
formed in rough common land (Towthorpe Common), in the month of May.
They are thought to be caused by a vehicle turning in the confined
area between a Miniature Rifle Range and a boundary which marks the
Towthorpe/Strensall parish boundary. The "enclosures" were visible
on the east side only (as one side and two corners). Examination,
during the National Mapping Programme, of many other photographs of the area taken at various dates, found no further evidence for these features. (4)

1 The Yorkshire archaeological journal 7 42 1967 (H G Ramm)
2 Vertical aerial photograph reference number OS OS/65077 014-15 12-MAY-1965
3 Later prehistory from the Trent to the Tyne 52 20(i-ii) by A J Challis and D W Harding
4 RCHME/EH/HE Aerial Photographers comment

Related event: The Vale of York project. RCHME/English Heritage. Forms part of the National Mapping Programme (NMP) and was undertaken by the Aerial Survey
section in the York office. 1998-2000.

Aerial Photography File (Unpublished document). SYO2.

Archaeology File (Unpublished document). SYO3.