Uploader's Comments

Although this boundary has been identified by one author with the Black Dyke, it is here at a very reduced size and without the characteristic ditch on its west (left) side. It appears to run parallel to the modern field boundary as it crosses Whitechapel Hill but can't be traced further in the field beyond the trees. This makes me think that the ancient boundary marked by the Black Dyke never came this way at all. It is interesting that the parish boundary, which regularly follows the course of the ancient dyke to the north, actually follows the route of Whitechapel Burn down to the River Tyne further west of this line over Whitechapel Hill, where it joins almost opposite the junction with the River Allen. Making use of these natural features would seem to me a much more likely route for the line of a boundary (either defensive or territorial). A continuing line south up the Allen valley also makes it possible that the boundary line continues much further southwards, as indeed was suggested by some earlier historians.