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road by marking the Sheep Track, which indicates the hard and 

 dry portion of the ground, where it passes through a boggy or 

 swampy district ; and in the ploughed land, as in this case, you 

 discern it by the short stunted crop of grain, where the root of 

 the plant is the shallowest, and so trace the course of the road ; 

 but in autumn, when the crop is reaped, you must judge by the 

 size of the turnip where the ditches were which accompanied the 

 road on each side, there the turnips, by reason of the greater 

 depth of soil in the ditches, will grow to a larger size, having 

 more root ; and if you look out for the largest flints you will often 

 find that they also mark the line of the road, having been dragged 

 by the plough out of the bed of the road. Aided by these 

 "indicia," and ha\'ing ascertained the exact point at which the 

 road traversed the summit of the hill, we marked out the line 

 which we supposed it had taken through several fields, and then 

 having brought it near to the Mound, at the point where it seemed 

 to deflect, we caused a section to be made about from 30 to 40 

 yards from the Mound itself. (Mr. Wilkinson says 30, see " Wilts 

 Archaeological Journal," November, 1867, p. 117.) I did not, 

 however, take the exact measurement, which I think has since 

 been made, but only write from recollection. 



This section revealed the road and the ditches on each side, 

 and this was opened before the rest of the party arrived. On 

 their arrival, it was considered well to make other sections in the 

 line that had been staked out (seven or eight trenches were cut). 

 These -were made at intervals varying from 50 to 100 yards or 

 further apart, and each section revealed the road and the 

 accompanying ditch on one or on both sides. The length traced 

 by means of sections is 477 yards. The first section was made 

 very near to the point where the Roman road unites with the 

 turnpike road between Bath and Marlborough. I believe the Une 

 marked out in the Ordnance Survey to be perfectly correct. The 

 road did not run up to Silbury Hill or under it, but deflected 

 before it approached the low ground upon wliich Silbury Hill is 

 placed, and the present turnpike road marks its track some short 

 way beyond Silbury. 



