CONGRESS of ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETIES, November 28Th, 1919
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CONGRESS OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETIES, November 28th, 1919. REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON ANCIENT EARTHWORKS AND FORTIFIED ENCLOSURES. Chairman : Sir HERCULES READ, LL.D., F.B.A., P.S.A. Committee: The Rt. Hon. the EARL OF SIR ARTHUR J. EVANS, D.Litt., CRAWFOKD AND BALCARRES, Hon. D.C.L., F.R.S., F.S.A. P.C., LL.D., F.S.A. WILLOUGHBYGARDNER, F.S.A. A. HADRIAN ALLCROFT, M.A. H. St. GEORGE GRAY. Col. F. W. T. ATTREE, F.S.A. W. M. FANSON, F.S.A. G. A. AUDEN, M.A., M.D., HENRY JENNER, F.S.A. F.S.A. C. LYNAM, F.S.A. HENRY BALFOXJR, M.A., F.S.A. D. H. MONTGOMERIE, F.S.A. Prof. R. C. BOSANQUET, M.A., Col. W. LL. MORGAN. F.S.A. T. DAVIES PRYCE. C. H. BOTHAMLEY, M.Sc., Col. O. E. RUCK, F.S.A. (Scot.) F.I.C. W. M. TAPP, LL.D., F.S.A. A. G. CHATER. T. J. WESTROPP, M.A. (Dub W. G. COLLINGWOOD, M.A., lin), M.R.I.A. F.S.A. J. P. WILLIAMS-FREEMAN, M.D. Hon. Secretary of the Committee: ALBANY F. 'MAJOR, O.B.E., 30, The Waldrons, Croydon. Hon. Secretary of the Congress: WILLIAM MARTIN, M.A., LL.D., F.S.A., 2, Garden Court, Temple, E.G. 4. REPORT OF THE EARTHWORKS COMMITTEE. RCHAEOLOGY during the past two years, like all other peaceful pursuits, has still been overshadowed by the A War and its aftermath. The cost of paper and printing rendered it necessary for the printing of last year's Report to be deferred, and the present Report covers both 1918 and 1919. Moreover, the Hon. Secretary is not yet free from the pressure of war work, and the Committee again ask indulgence for the delay in the issue of the Report and any shortcomings in it. The outstanding features in the year 1918 were the gift of Stonehenge to the nation by its public-spirited owner, Sir C. H. E. Chubb, of Salisbury, and the destruction, not before brought to notice, of some of the most remarkable features that distinguished the camp at Willington, near Bedford. Stonehenge was already scheduled as an ancient monument, and, besides the protection thereby given it, was in safe keeping in the hands of its late owner. Yet the feeling that such a monument ought to be a national possession is pro bably universal, while it is to be hoped that the action of Sir C. Chubb may stimulate other owners of ancient buildings, or of other monuments of more than local interest and value, to follow his example. In the case of Willington camp, however, the fact that the owner is a Member of Parliament, and was understood to be desirous of preserving its distinctive features, has not served to save it from irreparable damage. The camp, which, unlike the majority of so-called " Danish " camps, is almost certainly of Danish construction, possessed in its-harbour and docks features which made it almost, if not quite, unique in this country. The period of its construction is with much probability assigned to the Danish advance on Bedford re corded in the A.S. Chronicle under the year 921. But its* position on flat alluvial land on the banks of the Ouse, and the fact that its distinguishing features appealed only to experts, prevented it from becoming a show place. It has been peculiarly unfortunate. Landward, a roadway runs along what was probably the outer ditch. A railway, running be tween it and the river, has cut through the water approaches and destroyed the vallum on the river side, and a railway station has probably obliterated some of the outworks. No voice was raised locally on its behalf when it was handed over for allotments to the owner's constituents. Any interest he had in its preservation was not likely to be exerted very strongly against the desire of the allotment holders to cultivate their plots untrammeled by having to respect a few old banks and ditches. Mr. A. R. Goddard, a late member of the Earth works Committee, who was much interested in the camp, which he has described in the Saga Book of the Viking Club, Vol. III., had, unhappily, left the neighbourhood. Neither the town or county of Bedford boast of an archaeological society or other body to whom an appeal might have been made, and efforts to get into touch with local correspondents, who might have watched the place and reported any serious damage, were unavailing. The moral is that, until the Royal Commissions on Ancient Monuments have completed their labours, it will be almost impossible to save any threatened earthwork if its destruction appeals to anyone's pocket, unless it is a place of well- recognised local interest and the public feeling of the neigh bourhood can be aroused on its behalf. Still there are signs, which we gladly welcome, that even public bodies are becoming more alive to the duty of pre serving ancient earthworks from destruction or damage. The officials of the Duchy of Cornwall had little respect in the past for the ancient monuments in their care, if the story be true which tells how a clause in a contract for the repair of roads on Dartmoor allowed the contractor to use the stones of the alignments, etc. for road-metal. But the present Report records the care which the Duchy has taken to prevent injury to Castell-an-Dinas in granting a lease of mining rights in the parish of St. Columb Major. This is in striking con trast to the way in which, some years ago, the fortress on Penmaenmawr was handed over to destruction under a lease granted by the Office of Woods and Forests. Against the melancholy story of Willington, we may set the case of the camp on Boddington Hill, in Buckinghamshire, where a timely notice to the Committee has saved the camp from the risk it ran, owing to its not being shown in maps or known locally as an earthwork. Great credit is due to Mr. H. S. Braun, who during a visit to the neighbourhood dis covered the camp for himself and noticed and reported the danger that threatened it. The last report, however, of a reservoir dug in the centre of the camp is somewhat dis quieting, though at present it would not seem that any serious damage has been done. Mr. G. E. Cruickshank's success in tracing the Middlesex Grim's Dyke for some eighteen miles or more also calls for special attention. That at this late date it should still be possible to make discoveries of this kind within fifteen miles of London should be an encouragement to all field archaeo logists, and shows the importance of checking the reports of earlier antiquaries by actual observation. Like the traces of Wansdyke, found in Savernake Forest, it shows how cautious we should be before accepting reports that a dyke which appears to come to an abrupt termination ends " in the air," or before adopting theories that account for such a sudden end by the supposed existence of former forests, or marshes, for the dyke to rest on. The discovery that between Brockley Hill (Suttoniacae) and Elstree the Roman Road ran beside Grim's Dyke, apparently along the ditch, seems to point to the Dyke being pre-Roman. It may also help to account for the remarkable swerve out of its straight course which Watling Street makes on reaching Brockley Hill, only re suming a direction parallel to its original line on the top of Elstree Kill, where Grim's Dyke again turns at right angles eastward. The recent discovery of enclosures connected with the Dyke between Brockley Hill and Stanmore, and Dr. Martin's independent discovery of another earthwork on Brockley Hill, where pottery (apparently Roman) is fairly plentiful, seems to call for further investigation. Dr. Martin has suggested to the Committee the desirability of apppinting a joint com mittee representing, say, the British Archaeological Society, the London and Middlesex Archaeological Society, and the South-Eastern Union of Scientific Societies, to consider the undertaking of trial excavations on the site, provided the necessary permission can be obtained. The position of the site as the first station out of London northwards on Watling Street, its nearness to London, and the ease with which it can be reached, suggest that such a proposal would be warmly supported. -.-..-. The notes that have come to hand during the year 1919 show that there has been no resumption of activity as yet among archaeologists, though they contain promise for the future. One more case of the destruction of a threatened earth work must be added to that of Willington, that of the Roman Camp at Templeborough, referred to in the Report for 1917, which has now been obliterated by railway sidings. Lack of local interest, or local reverence for the past, led to the failure of the efforts made to save the site which are referred to in the Report for 1913, and needs arising out of the War are said to have made its destruction unavoidable. We have, on the other hand, to record the purchase of the site of the Roman fort at Segontium, in Carnarvonshire, by a syndicate of Welsh archaeologists, who intend to carry out excavations there. This has preserved the site from the builder, and is an example which deserves to be imitated. In Hampshire, further excavations are being carried out on Hengistbury Head, and are still in progress ; and a survey of the earthworks round Bournemouth has been undertaken by the Bournemouth Field Club, with the valuable assistance of Mr.