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Danes Dyke is a bank and ditch earthwork 'wall' which cut off Flamborough peninsula from the mainlaind. Despite the name, the Dyke has nothing to do with the Danes! The exact date of construction is uncertain; some sources put it squarely in the Iron Age (pre-Roman) while others suggest similarities to post-Roman earthworks. and was intended as a defensive structure to protect headland settlements.
The Dyke stretches 4km from north to south, enclosing a total area of about 5 square miles, and includes the most northerly outcropping of coastal chalk in Britain. It was probably topped with a wooden pallisade fence and would originally have created a seriously strong defensive barrier to anyone approaching the headland from the west.

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