24 WALKS AND AVENUES OF DORCHESTER. 



and with regard to the boundaries of the Manor, as evidenced 

 by the town records and the Court rolls of the Manor. The 

 walls, being of no further use for defensive purposes, were 

 allowed to go into decay, and were eventually, by degrees, 

 demolished, the stone being absorbed into other buildings ; 

 and the ditches, or some of them, were, with the consent of 

 the Duchy of Cornwall, levelled down and used as " Walks " 

 and recreation grounds by the town's 'folk, and at length, 

 by some happy inspiration, they were planted with trees. 

 Hence arose those beautiful walks and avenues of Dorchester 

 as we now see them, which are the pride of the inhabitants 

 and the admiration of the many visitors to the town. 



Sir Frederick Treves, in his " Highways and Byways in 

 Dorset," writes : " One of the most beautiful features of 

 Dorchester is its ceinture of green ; for on three sides it is 

 surrounded by avenues of trees of sycamores, limes, and 

 chestnuts. On the fourth side runs the river Frome through 

 reedy meadows." 



Mr. Thomas Hardy, O.M., makes one of his Wessex heroines 

 say of the town : " What an old-fashioned place it seems to 

 be. It is huddled all together ; and it is shut in by a square 

 wall of trees, like a plot of garden-ground by a box-edging." 

 And other writers, visitors to Dorchester, have been no less 

 lavish in their praise of our beautiful avenues. The 

 archaeological features of the " walls " and " ditches " have 

 been ably treated on by other members of the Dorset Field 

 Club, namely, by the late Rev. W. M. Barnes, in his paper 

 on " Roman Fortification, with special reference to the 

 Roman Defences of Dorchester " (Vol. XII., page 135, of 

 the " Proceedings "), by the late Mr. H. J. Moule in " Notes 

 on the Walls and Gates of Durnovaria " (Vol. XIV., page 44), 

 and by Captain J. E. Acland, F.S.A., in " Notes on Excava- 

 tions at Dorchester on the site of the Roman Defences " 

 (Vol. XXXVI., page 1) ; but the much- vexed question of 

 when and by whom the Dorchester " Walks," and the other 

 fine avenues leading to and from the town, were planted 

 seems still to rest in doubt ; and I hope to be able, as the 



