136 



The Thirty-Fifth General Meeting. 



every confidence that this Society, which rightly and justly had such 

 regard for the name of Cunniugton, would endorse the proposal. As 

 additional Local Secretaries he proposed Mr. Schomberg for the dis- 

 trict of Melksham, and Mr. Fred Goldney for that of Chippenham, in 

 the place of Mr. Noyes. He also proposed that Mr. C. F. Hart and 

 Dr. Bowes be added to the Committee ; and that Mr. S within 

 Waylen and Mr. Wilshin (of the Capital and Counties Bank, 

 Devizes) be the Auditors. The Rev. A. .C. Smith seconded the 

 proposition, which was agreed to. 



The Rev. A. C. Smith then read extracts from some letters he 

 had received from General Pitt- Rivers, showing exactly what had 

 been done in the examination of Bokerley Dyke. These letters, 

 remarked Mr. Smith, were extremely interesting, and showed them 

 most plainly and quite unanswerably that Bokerley Dyke must have 

 been post Roman, or old Roman at the very latest. But he was 

 sorry to say that the fact of Bokerley Dyke, the most southerly 

 ditch in Wiltshire, having been proved to be post Roman, seemed 

 to open up the possibility that Wans Dyke was not so old as they 

 had always thought before. That they could not prove without an 

 actual examination of the Dyke ; and he for one would not give up 

 the idea that it was pre-historic and pre-Roman, until some one had 

 found himself able to prove that it was of later date. But they 

 would never rest satisfied in the Society now until they had made 

 the experiment, and he hoped that some day they would set to work, 

 and under proper direction, dig such a section through Wans Dyke 

 as would set that question at rest. Some people thought it was 

 very easy to open a barrow, but it was not so, especially in the case 

 of a large one. That, however, was an easy matter in comparison 

 with making a section through Wans Dyke. To accomplish that 

 properly would require a thoroughly competent engineer, and they 

 must have either General Pitt Rivers, or some one almost as good, 

 before they attempted the work. 



The Members of the Society then. left the Town Hall, and in- 

 spected the parish Church. Here they were met by the Vicar, the 

 Rev. Canon Duncan, who most kindly described the principal 

 features 'of the building, and gave an outline of its history. He 



