on the Doicns of North Wilts. 249 



earthwork, the main enclosure measuring 18 yards square, and the 

 apparent addition or enlargement clinging to its side showing an 

 area of 12 yards by 16. 



No. 8. The last instance which I shall adduce though also on 

 a small scale, is not so diminutive as that just described. It is 

 situated in my own parish of Tatesbury, and measures about fifty 

 yards in diameter, being a square in shape though with rounded 

 corners : the bank and ditch which enclose it are of considerable 

 size, the section showing no less than 15 feet, and they are pierced 

 by many narrow entrances. It lies on the flat level plain, and on 

 neither side is it sheltered in the smallest degree. It is also pecu- 

 liar for the length as well as the number of banks and ditches, 

 apparently indicating roads which lead up to it from no less than 

 three sides, and these banks and ditches may be traced for several 

 hundred yards. It also contains a slight depression in the centre, 

 but I have failed to ascertain its object or to gain any clue to its 

 intention, though I have thoroughly examined it by digging. 



Such is the appearance and such is the diversity of these strange 

 earthworks : they have puzzled many an antiquary and have given 

 rise to a great variety of opinion, and a vast amount of discussion 

 as to their intention. And as no positive proof of their object is 

 forthcoming, the question is still undecided and likely to remain 

 so for a long time to come. Under these circumstances, we (the 

 archaeologists of this county at least) naturally look for information 

 to our great pioneer in Wiltshire antiquities, I mean Sir Eichard 

 Colt Hoare, than whom no one before or since has more diligently 

 explored our downs in all directions, and that not cursorily and 

 superficially but with painstaking and care. Sir Richard Hoare 

 gives it as his opinion that these enclosures were the cattle pens of 

 the early Britons : that was his decided conviction after ample 

 examination of a great many of such earthworks : the conjecture 

 seems at all events plausible, nor have I heard any sound argument 

 in favour of a contrary view, though perhaps we may be wrong to 

 attribute them all to this purpose : there may be exceptions, and 

 some of the larger ones may (as I have already said) have had 

 another origin, and been thrown up as military defences or to 



