368 



Down), poi'tioiis of the dike had been raised in heiglit ; and this 

 might be the case, as battles had taken place on its line, and it was 

 at WanV)orongh that the Saxon chief Ceaulin was defeated, A.D. 

 591. After this the Club continued their examination of its 

 course, and came upon it at two or three other points where portions 

 had been removed, and the bed of the Roman road was very dis- 

 tinctly marked. Mr. Fuller, jun., who accompanied the party, 

 confirmed the fact of the dike having been converted to the pur- 

 poses of a road, by stating the difficulties which the workmen 

 experienced in removing the concrete portion. The course of the 

 dike was followed to the top of Monkton Farley Down, where all 

 traces are lost, but from this point it may be seen in the valley 

 below, on Mr. Skrine's property, who accompanied the party, and 

 aided them by his information and notes on the subject. 



From this visit of the Club the following points were ascertained : — 



1. — That the dike can be successfully traced from Neston Park to 

 near Farleigh Down. 



2. — That it has carried a road upon its crest, portions of which 

 still remain and can be seen at successive intervals, but the road 

 may not always keep upon the crest of the dike. 



3. — That it is probable that in places the dike has been raised to 

 a greater height, probably in Saxon times. 



4. — The course of the dike through this part of Wilts is very 

 straight and unlike other poi-tions by reason of the level face of the 

 country over which it travelled, not like the broken ground in 

 Somersetshire between MaesknoU and the Avon, opposite Warleigh 

 Manor. 



The attention of the Club having been called to the threatened 

 obliteration by the plough of that portion of the Wansdyke which 

 crosses Claverton Down, a walk was taken in that direction on lAtk 

 March, and the imminent destruction of that ancient monument 

 was but too evident, for the plough was then at work in dangerous 

 proximity. The tenant of the land was, however, luckily present 



raise it from a ditch into a road the Roman, workmen have thrown in most of 

 the rampire, still preserving it as a terrace to prevent the danger and terror of 

 the descent on one side." — Stukeley Itiner. Cur. Iter., vi., p. 134. 



