dhurdi anfc (Earthtoork. 



By the Rev. Canon Sir TALBOT H. B. BAKER, Bart. 



|R. WARNE, a better guide than Hutching here, in 

 his "Ancient Dorset" (pp. 101-5) calls the 

 one before you No. 2 of four earthworks, 

 which he describes with the remark that " the 

 character of these remains differs so thoroughly 

 from that of those of which we have hitherto 

 discoursed that I must assign them a class by 

 themselves." Assisted by a friend I examined 

 Nos. 1, 3, and 4 of Warne's list a fortnight ago, 

 arid was sorry to find that farming operations have almost entirely 

 obliterated the traces of Nos. 3 and 4, which lay to the north and 

 north-west of No. 2, so that I cannot honestly say I could make out 

 the lines of the areas enclosed, though Mr. Warne was able, some 

 40 or 50 years ago, to give their respective measurements. There 

 can be no mistake about the position he assigns to them for he 

 speaks of both these circles as being near to " many ancient yew 

 trees." These, happily, have not been cut down, and their appear- 

 ance, in single file, gave a weirdness to the locality which may be 

 termed harmonious. 



I need not speak much about Warne's earthwork No 1. A small 

 but conspicuous fragment of it remains south of, and close by, yon 

 farmhouse, but it has been cut through since his time for a useful, 

 but not archaeological, adjunct to a farmyard a duck puddle ! 



