336 Eacavations in Wansdyke, 1889—91. 
remains of a Romano-British Settlement existed on the ground at 
the time the dyke was made: copper coins and other relics had been 
scattered about in the Settlement, and when the ditch was dug, and 
the earth from it thrown up to form a rampart, these coins and other 
things were thrown up with the soil by the Roman or Romano- 
British workmen, without taking any notice of them. In this way 
they were preserved as a record of the date of the work. The 
Settlement itself was discovered and dug out, and the same kinds of 
coins and relics were found scattered about in it. I need not enter 
into details, which have already been given in our Magazine, and 
which can be examined again in the models by those who desire to 
do so. 
The method of examining the Wansdyke was similar to that 
employed for Bokerly. 
The well-known Wiltshire and Somersetshire entrenchment runs, 
or did probably run at one time, from the fenny country in the 
neighbourhood of the Severn at Portishead, by Bath, passing to the 
north of Devizes to Savernake Forest, and on to Chisbury, where it 
turns and runs southward in the direction of Andover. It has been 
frequently described, and by none better than by the Rev. A. C. 
Smith, in his “ Antiquities of Wiltshire.” It is of very different 
relief in different places. In parts it is little more than a road, and 
in others—especially on Morgan’s Hill and Shepherd’s Shore, near 
Devizes, which was the locality selected for my excavation—it is 
equal in size to the highest part of Bokerly. The ditch is always 
to the north, showing that it was thrown up against a northern 
enemy. It is about sixty miles in length. This is exactly the 
length of the Wall of Hadrian between Newcastle and Carlisle, 
which work Wansdyke greatly resembles in the general principles 
of its construction. It is strengthened by four camps along its line, 
viz., Maesknowl, Stantonbury, Bathampton, and Chisbury, which 
correspond in position and use to those on the Northumberland wall, 
though, unlike them, built only of earth, and irregular in their 
outline, My first section, 30ft. wide, was cut to the west of 
Shepherd’s Shore in 1889, which resulted in the discovery of an iron 
knife and an iron nail, 5°36ft. beneath the surface of the rampart. 
