From Encyclopedia Jr, free information reference for Kids
Ditches at the
Ouse Washes nature reserve.
- For use of the ditch as obstacles for horses, see ditch (obstacle)
A ditch is usually defined as a small to moderate depression created to channel water. A ditch can be used for drainage, to drain water from low lying areas, alongside roadways or fields, or to channel water from a more distant source for plant irrigation. A trench can be defined as a long narrow ditch. Ditches are commonly seen around farmland especially in areas that have required drainage, such as The Fens in the UK and the pro-water management The Netherlands.
Roadside ditches can provide a hazard to motorists, especially in poor weather conditions. It is not an uncommon sight in some rural areas to see cars that have crashed into ditches, or to hear of such accidents.
[edit] Fortification
In military engineering and fortification, a distinction is made between a ditch and a trench. A ditch is an obstacle, designed to slow down or break up an attacking force, while a trench is cover, intended to provide protection to the defenders. In Mediaeval fortification, a ditch was often constructed in front of a defensive wall to hinder sapping and escalade. When filled with water, such a defensive ditch is called a moat. Later star forts of Vauban and others comprised elaborate networks of ditches and parapets, carefully calculated so that the soil for the raised earthworks was provided, as nearly as possible, entirely by the excavations whilst also maximising defensive firepower. Today ditches are obsolescent as an anti-personnel obstacle, but are still often used as anti-vehicle obstacles; see berm.
