Grim's Ditch (Chilterns)

Grim's Ditch is a series of linear earthwork in the Chilterns (southeast England). A complete outline can not be identified but separate sections exist over a 30 km span between Bradenham, Buckinghamshire, Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire and as far as Pitstone and Ivinghoe Buckinghamshire. Pottery shards have been unearthed in excavations during the 1970s and '80s suggesting its origin may have been during the Iron Age and was believed to have been during a period when the landscape was clearer of scrub and the dense woodland as today as the straighter sections would have required clear lines-of-sight. The first mention of Grim's Ditch was a grant of 1170-90 in the Missenden Cartulary referring to it as "Grimesdic". The Anglo Saxons commonly named features of unexplained or mysterious origin, "Grim". The word derives from the Norse word "grimr" meaning devil and a nickname for Odin or Wodin the God of War and Magic. Another mention is to be found in a 10th century Anglo Saxon boundary charter for the Mongewell area.

Its size varies considerably. At Hastoe the ditch is 3.5m wide and 2m deep with a bank of 2m and an overall spread of 13.5m. The purpose of the earthwork is uncertain. It is thought by the Ordnance Survey (1974) that it may be a set of local boundaries used to control the movement of cattle and carts and dating back to the Iron Age as no Anglo-Saxon event is connected with it. It is not seen as having a defensive structure due to the way that the banks have been constructed. It may in fact be a collection of structures with two or more purposes with the hilltop section near Cholesbury being associated with the nearby Iron Age Hillfort whilst other sections lower down towards Aylesbury Vale may demarcate areas where pig and cattle grazing occurred.

Route

References

*Ordnance Survey (1974) "Britain in the Dark Ages", 2nd ed., text reprinted with corr., Southampton : Ordnance Survey, p. 19

*cite book |last=Hepple & Doggett|first=Leslie & Alison |title=The Chilterns|year=1971 |publisher=Phillimore & Co Ltd |location=England |isbn=0 85033 833 6

*cite journal
last = Davis
first = Jean
title = Grim's Ditch in Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire
journal = Records of Buckinghamshire
date = 1981