By the R9v. Preb. W. H. Jones. 



339 



Wily and Little Langford. Then it went through Grovely Wood/ 

 in the direction possibly of the Roman Road, which may still be 

 traced, till it reached the vicinity of Dichsematun 2 (Ditch-hampton) 

 a village which takes its name from this u dyke."" Then it takes a 

 north-east direction, skirting South Newton (it is called in a 

 charter relating to it " the old dyke" Cod. Dipl. 395), and then 

 passes to the north of Old Sarum. Here it would seem to have 

 been called IFond'dic, for this was the old spelling of what is now 

 called Under 'ditch , 3 and gives its name to the Hundred in which it 

 is situated. 



And now for a few words as to the meaning of the name Gbjms- 

 dyke, and the purpose, and probable date, of those which have been 

 just described. 



Stukeley and others have thought that this term was derived from 

 the Anglo-Saxon grime, which means an elf or witch, and so was 

 equivalent to " witches' work ; for the vulgar generally think those 

 extraordinary works made by the help of the devil Dr. Guest, 

 however, questions this derivation, because the genitive case of grime, 

 is grim-an, and therefore would make Griman-dic, and inclines to 

 the idea that the word Grimes-dic really means, what we have every 

 reason for believing its purpose to have been, boundary dyke. 

 What he says amounts to this : — He looks on the word grime as 

 connected with the gruma, or groma, of the Agrimensors. Or he 

 would connect it with another Latin term which he finds, viz., 

 grum.i, oi ™v opwv XiOoi, boundary -stones, observing that our 

 Anglo-Saxon charters not unfrequently use Latin phrases when 

 describing boundaries, some of which must have been adopted by 

 our ancestors soon after their arrival in the island. He considers 



1 It may be interesting to notice that in the Calendar of the Inquis. post 

 mortem for VI. Rich. 2, we have this entry under "Thomas Blauuchard," — 

 Bereford S. Martini in foresta de Qfovelie, balliva ex parte australi dc Grymcs- 

 diche. 



2 In the boundaries of Ditchampton as contained in the Wilton Chiutulary 

 (Cod. Dipl., 778) we have the expression: "on tfane gre&tan bom $6 Stynl 

 wr5 Grimes-dic" (at the great thorn that stands near Grimsdyke), 



3 For the probable, or, it may be, possible, derivation of Underditch, see aboYt, 

 p. 269. 



