EXCAVATIONS AT MAUMBURY RINGS. 261 



chalk floor a shallow and irregular trench or gutter was observed 

 (slightly curved and oblique to the border of the cutting), varying 

 in depth from 2in. to 6in. 



Modern shards were plentiful in the first foot of material 

 removed, including a Victorian half-penny, 1861 (depth ift.). 

 The finding of mediaeval and later shards soon ceased, except on 

 the site of the ledge on the E., where they extended to a depth 

 of 4ft. Here it was observed that the material was of a different 

 character from that found elsewhere, and the faces of the cutting 

 revealed the outline of a secondary trench, 4'ift. deep, lo'sft. 

 wide, at top and 5*3ft. at bottom. Of the latter width 4'3ft. was 

 represented by the solid ledge, the remaining foot (on the W. 

 margin) consisting of a thin layer of rammed chalk resting on the 

 silting of the deeper part of the cutting. In the secondary 

 trench the silting formed what is geologically termed a synclinal 

 bend, showing that the material had fallen in from both sides. It 

 is doubtless a continuation of the trench, or trackway, re-exca- 

 vated in late years in the same line in several other places 

 towards the town. Although the ledge forming a bottom for 

 the later trench is regarded by some, and, perhaps, rightly 

 so, as a part of the original construction of the entrance and 

 of contemporary date, there are certain points which militate 

 against such a conclusion, which must be reserved for the 

 present. 



It is a question if the entrance was so wide originally as now. 

 In 1723, a writer says "the plough encroaches on the verge of 

 the entrance every year." It is quite probable that the banks 

 extended inwards up to the margin of the deep excavation, 

 which would make the original entrance 26ft. wide at the present 

 turf level, and 22ft. wide on the chalk floor. If this is the 

 solution of the problem, then the ledge would obviously be of 

 much later date than the deeper part. However, whether the 

 constructors of the recent trench (presumably of the Civil Wars 

 period), excavated the solid chalk to form a ledge, or whether 

 they found the ledge already made, it is evident that they did not 

 find it quite wide enough for their purpose. 



