Monument record 7578 - Curved Earthwork in Lower Dale Field

<1> Various, Written Communication to the HER, Welsh, T 05/11/2014 (Written Communication). SCH3756.

A distinctive curved ditch on the western side of the railway (but part crossed by railway), just north of the parish boundary along The Dale gully, breifly glimpsed from a train. There has been heavy ploughing of the feature, but aerial imagery on Google Earth seems to show it forming a semicircle against the gully and west of the railway line (an easten arc might extend beyond the railway) about 80-90 metres diameter.

<2> Bluesky International Ltd, 2005-2006, 2005-2006 Bluesky Survey (Aerial Photograph). SCH5483.

A curving soil mark is visible on this imagery. It is c. 200m long and 25m wide. The feature runs from the northern side of the depression containing the brook which forms the township boundary between Moston and Upton, with a more pronounced curve at its northern end. Paler soil marks at the northern end, which flank the darker soil, may suggest banks.

<3> Bluesky International Ltd, 1999-2003, 1999-2003 Bluesky Survey (Aerial Photograph). SCH5482.

The feature is visible as a cropmark.

<4> Royal Air Force, 1944-1947, 1940s RAF Aerial Photographs from Operation Review (Aerial Photograph). SCH8041.

There is a clear and sizable depression, but the southern end seems much straighter than in later aerial photos/images possibly suggesting that the eastern return seen is an effect of the junction with the natural watercourse. There is no evidence for banks, the pale soil marks previously seen are probably the effect of the plough cutting into the underlying glacial drift at the break of slope. A more recent drainage ditch runs the course of the feature.

<4> The GeoInformation Group, 2005, 1940s RAF Aerial Photographs from Operation Review (Aerial Photograph). SCH4608.

There is a clear and sizable depression, but the southern end seems much straighter than in later aerial photos/images possibly suggesting that the eastern return seen is an effect of the junction with the natural watercourse. There is no evidence for banks, the pale soil marks previously seen are probably the effect of the plough cutting into the underlying glacial drift at the break of slope. A more recent drainage ditch runs the course of the feature.