lo . History of the 



dough, is not very distinct ; but more than four hundred yards of 

 the Hne exhibit a trench eighteen yards broad in the bottom, and 

 of proportionate depth — a most gigantic, and at the same time 

 almost inexphcable work, as it could only have been intended for 

 some military purpose ; and yet, in its present state, must have 

 been almost useless as a fortification — for, though it would have 

 defended a great army in front, yet their flanks might have been 

 turned with the greatest ease, and the whole might have been 

 destroyed in their trenches from the high grounds which imme- 

 diately command it. On the whole I am inclined to think it one 

 side of a vast British camp, which was intended to have been 

 carried round the crown of the hill, but for some reason, never to 

 be recovered by us, was left in its present unfinished and useless 

 state. Abating for the herbage with which it is covered, the pre- 

 sent appearance of it is precisely that of an unfinished modern 

 canal, though much deeper and wider in its dimensions." (ff) 



The same monument of antiquity is thus alluded to by the late 

 Mr. T. T. Wilkinson, in a paper read before the Historic Society of 

 Lancashire and Cheshire, entitled " The Battle of Brunanburh, and 

 the probable Locality of the Conflict": — " Broadclough Dyke is a 

 formidable and gigantic intrenchment near Bacup. It measures 

 more than one tljousand eight hundred feet in length, is situated 

 on the edge of a gentle slope, and has a trench at least fifty-four 

 feet broad at the bottom. What can have been the object of such 

 an extensive earthwork can, of course, only be a matter of conjec- 

 ture. From its position it is capable of protecting a large army in 

 front, but it is easily accessible from the east, and must have been 

 abandoned by its defenders whenever the enemy had turned their 

 flank. Its construction can only have been suggested by temporary 

 necessities, since it has evidently been abandoned in an unfinished 

 state." 



There are several features of interest connected with the Dyke 

 at Broadclough worthy of remark, which have either escaped the 



(a) Hist. Whalley, third edition, p. 221. 



