Combs Ditch

Combs Ditch (sometimes spelt Comb's Ditch or Combe Ditch) is a linear earthwork on Charlton Down in Dorset, England [1]. The earthwork is a scheduled ancient monument [1]. The earthwork consists of a bank with a ditch on the north east side [1]. It was once at least 6.4 kilometres long but now only 4.4 kilometres is visible [1]. The bank ranges from 5.4 to 8.5 metres wide with a maximum height of 2.2 metres [1]. The ditch varies in width from 4.8 to 8.5 metres [1]. Excavation found third- or fourth-century Roman pottery lying on the turf line behind the bank probably before its final reconstruction [1]. The limited excavation seems to show an Iron Age boundary ditch being enlarged into a defensive earthwork in the late Roman or post-Roman period [1].