106 AN ANCIENT BRITISH TRACKWAY. 



where the road may be seen ascending the hill from the west 

 close to and partially broken by a large stone quarry, thence 

 passing a few yards to the left of the "Temple." Another 

 example of this type of road may be seen in some portions of 

 the Via Iceniana or Roman road on the crest of the hill on the 

 Dorchester side of East Compton Down, such portions probably 

 being originally British, but adapted by the Romans in making 

 their long straight road leading from Silchester through Durno- 

 varia past Eggardon Hill to the ancient Isca, the modern 

 Exeter. These roads were adapted for and doubtless used by 

 the ancient Britons for the wheel traffic of their cars or chariots, 

 in the use of which the Britons like the Gauls were, according to 

 Caesar, most expert. 



The minor roads or trackways were considerably narrower 

 than those just described, and the term " hollow or covered way " 

 has been applied to this latter type of road by Sir R. C. Hall and 

 other antiquaries, conveying the idea of having been constructed 

 for the purpose of aifording shelter, concealment, or protection 

 to the traveller. These were formed by digging a moderately 

 broad and deep ditch and throwing up the soil into a bank on 

 one or both sides of the excavation, and it has been suggested 

 that many of these earthworks may have served a double purpose, 

 namely, as "ways" and also as boundary lines and divisions 

 between the property of contiguous tribes. 



The ancient trackway discovered at Dorchester, and of which 

 I now produce photographic sections for your inspection, is of 

 the latter type. It appears to have run from the southern entrance 

 of Durnovaria, in a southern direction, diverging slightly towards 

 the east, but almost parallel to the old turnpike road to Wey- 

 mouth which was formed on the causeway of a Roman Vicinal 

 Way given off by the Via Iceniana as it passed through 

 Durnovaria, and is continued straight over Ridgeway Hill to the 

 shore at Radipole somewhat to the east, or possibly under the 

 eastern embankment of Maumbury Rings, which, if correct, 

 practically disposes of the theory, held by some, that it was the 

 road from the town to this ancient Roman Amphitheatre. 



