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Bran Ditch or Heydon Ditch is generally assumed to be an Anglo-Saxon earthwork in southern Cambridgeshire, England.
Most of the ditch has been lost to agriculture over time, but its line its marked throughout by both hedgerow and the route of the Harcomlow Way and Icknield Way paths. It would have consisted of an earth bank and ditch running for approximately 5 km (~3 miles) north-west from higher land at Heydon through what is now the golf course at Heydon Grange, crossing the A505 road and to Black Peak at the southernmost tip of Fowlmere RSPB reserve. At this northern terminus of the ditch is an iron-age enclosure. This whole length of the ditch, and the enclosure, is classified as a scheduled ancient monument. [1]
Beginning on the fringes of Heydon Village, the ditch's course quickly descends from the higher ground (120m) to the flatter agricultural landscape below (55m). On the hill the earthworks are lightly wooded and it is at this higher point at which the dyke's course and workings are best viewed. Its line to the north can be seen through gaps in the trees in the fields below and what remains of its banks are best preserved there. For a short distance the workings are several metres high as the footpath descends the hill through the ditch and onto the flatter ground below. Down here only a slightly raised straight path and a hedgerow line are clues to former glories.