Hi Coquet, sorry for the late reply.
Yes, that's it, the long dyke itself - I assume where the farm and now cottages got their name. I had no idea about the rifle range though!
On that second image you can see why I thought there might have been a connection between the Bilton Banks and Shilbottle pits, but as you say it suggests it is just a natural feature.
I can't say what it's like now, but back when we were kids (25-30 years back) it was very boggy, bracken all up the sides (with less bracken and more trees on the eastern side, where those 3 bore holes were) and I distinctly remember it had a little wooden bridge (barely more than a fixed raft) over what must have been a particularly boggy part.
I suppose it could have been a larger stream at some point which together with Tyelaw burn provided water for the Shilbottle sewage works at the east of the village. This goes on to become what we know as the 'stinky burn' (or stinky bourne as my mother calls it), the bit which flows down under the High Buston road and next down to the twisty bit of the Warkworth road 1/4 mile east of the Shilbottle Grange pits. I don't know how long it's been known as the stinky burn and whether it came from being downstream of the sewage works. It has a rusty orange colour to it, but I don't know if that's a byproduct of the treatment.
Thanks for your insight. It certainly offers considerably more information than I'd been able to find!
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