| Description | C6/C7 bank and ditch, orientated roughly N S. Scheduled areas represent best preserved stretches, but there is considerable evidence that earthworks extended at least to a point just north of present day Scholes, and as far south as the Aire. Possibly the defences of the Kingdom of Elmet against English invasion. Originally interpreted as the remains of a Roman road; designated as RR728 by Margary. Where well preserved, the bank stands up to 2.4m high , and the ditch measures from 9 to 12m in width. Much of the earthwork is badly degraded, and on places has been completely filled in or ploughed out. A resistivity survey was carried out in 1976 in the area NW of Swillington and just west of Bullerthorpe Road, but the line of the Dyke was not detected. A section through the ditch was detected in a machine trench at Swillington Bridge in 1977, but the only systematic archaeological excavation along the line of the Dyke took place in 1958 at SE 375 316. The trench excavated was just over 1m wide and demonstrated that the bank was formed by upcast from the ditch; no postholes were discovered. |