Devil's Dyke

LiDAR – Devil’s Dyke - Hertfordshire DTM- (Digital Terrain Model, i.e. No buildings or foliage) Occupying fields to the SE of Wheathampstead lies the huge 43Ha probable oppidum or Iron Age settlement, Devil’s Dyke. The name refers to the massive western defences still extant to this day and now lay hidden in woodland. The eastern defences are called ‘The Slad’ and are on private property. The interior has been ploughed-out over the centuries and is bisected by a road N/S and field boundaries but the Hertfordshire HER lists many barrows within its boundaries. Belgic & pre-Belgic pottery was recovered in the 1970s when the Marford Road bypass was dug across the site on its northern borders. The site is also a candidate for the battle between Julis Caesar and the Catuvellauni tribe in 54BC where he defeated the tribal leader, Cassivellaunus. as described in the first-hand account De Bello Gallico. No (military) finds support this hypothesis. Site part-excavated in 1932 by Sir Mortimer Wheeler who came up with the above hypothesis for no apparent reason. (Scheduled Monument)