THE WILTSHIRE MAGAZINE. 66 MULTORUM MANIBUS GRANDE LEVATUR ONUS."—Ovid. No. CXXVIII. JUNE, 1918. DURRINGTON WALLS, OR LONG WALLS. By P. FARRER. DA 670 w6947 v.40 VOL. XL. The owners are the War Department, Winchester College, Admiral Sir R. Poore, Bart., and the work is shown on the Ordnance Survey 25 inch, sheets 54, 11, and 12. This earthwork lies about 1200 yards south-west of Durrington Church and is intersected by the road from Amesbury to Devizes, as Colt Hoare shows, though further north this road only dates from the early nineteenth century. It is sited on the western slope of the valley of the River Avon reaching almost to the riverbank, is commanded by higher ground to the north-west and south, and is about half-way between the Packway and the present London Road. The Packway is now metalled, but till 1910 was only a track, if an important one, that crosses the river at Bulford (which village claimed in the early part of the seventeenth century to stand on the London Road), about 1500 yards above the earthwork. The present London Road follows pretty closely one of the oldest lines taken by traffic in the South of England, which can be traced from Marazion to Dover, though there is a divergence at Amesbury. It seems probable that the old place of crossing is indicated by the name Ratfyn, if this may be translated "The White Ford," Rat being equivalent to Ret and fyn to Gwyn or Vin, about 1000 yards down stream from the Walls. The general shape of the work may be called circular, but there are straight lengths in the perimeter, which is incomplete as regards bank or scarp on the east side, where there is a gap of about VOL XL. NO. CXXVIII. G 100 yards between the eastern and southern banks. This gap was originally filled by a ditch, an opening about 30 feet wide being left therein as an entrance just beyond the present end of the eastern bank. The line of the ditch was clearly visible in the young corn in April, 1917, and in August of the same year was equally plainly shown by the longer darker stubble; it follows an easy curve and reaches the south scarp about 70 yards west of the Amesbury Road. I think it continued westwards along the toe of the scarp, for there is a well-defined depression here, but it is hard to decide how much is ditch and how much the effect of traffic, probably agricultural and modern. The south scarp extends eastwards beyond the line of the eastern bank for about 30 yards and appears to be continued to the river bank by a low ditched mound, but this must be modern, for the line is not true with that of the south scarp, while the bank would have obstructed the track along the riverside, shown by Colt Hoare in his map of the Amesbury section but now only traceable south of Durrington Walls in certain states of cultivation. The river bank here is steep and opposite the work the water level is normally some 20 feet below the crest of the bank. The east side is no doubt a bank, formed by heaping up the spoil from a wide ditch on the inner or area side of the bank, which has been much spread and degraded by cultivation, but the remaining portions of the perimeter are scarps varying much in height and formed by digging out a portion of the area and depositing the spoil on the top of the outer slope of the excavation. As a guide to the amount of the excavation I would suggest that a line be drawn some 60 feet away from and parallel to the present toe of the scarp. I am sure that the whole of the perimeter is artificial and not partly natural as Colt Hoare suggests. The area is now, 1917, cultivated, as is the land to the east and north, and as was till recently the land to the west. That to the south appears to have been cultivated for very many years. The only certain entrance is the 30 feet gap in the ditch already mentioned, but it seems possible that foot and perhaps pack traffic entered and left at the north-west and south-west corners, where the scarps are low, [Based on Ordnance Survey Map, with the sanction of the Controller of the Stationery Office, e. H. WOODWARD, PRINTER.] Small Banke Amended Oct/157 July/17 + οι Jcale of Feet: 410.9* Grass -8" -9" Fine Chalky Soil Chalk Lumps, intershces filled with fine Chalk Section on Line E-F -4.2 of Trench Undisturbed Bottom Original Jurface Soil 48.67 146 14.0" -7.0 13'6" Grass -6.6" approx: Pos 146 A 4.0 Scale for Section E-F G-H do H.B. of Change of Gradientin Scarp ared, to. Site of Aitch Undisturbed Chalk Section on Line CD 38932.3 +5.0" The work for this locality is anomalous, for it may be described as formed not on but below the natural surface to a large extent, that is to say not by digging a ditch and heaping up the soil into a bank, but by excavating on three sides at least a triangular piece of ground and then spreading the soil outwards on the top of the outer slope of the excavation. The east bank, however, seems normally formed, though the ditch is on the area side. That the west scarp was constructed as I have stated is proved by the change of slope shown in Section C-D and by Section E-F, and I think it is quite safe to assume that the other northern and southern sides were produced in the same way. The labour expended must have been colossal, for a recent cutting in the toe of the western scarp showed a height of about 6ft. 6in. of virgin chalk, while the change of slope, that certainly marks the approximate line of the original surface, occurs about 8ft. above the present level of the area. I think it is probable that this has been lowered somewhat by continuous cultivation, and that the bank may have been heightened by washings from the higher ground to the westward, but even so the amount of excavation is large and the very remarkable result has been obtained that the whole of the area is commanded from the perimeter. The marked advantage of protection from the westerly winds that scourge this country results, but, on consideration of other sites, this advantage appears to have been neglected by our predecessors. It is of course the fact that many of the "villages" are so sited as to be somewhat sheltered by higher ground to the west, but there is nothing on the Plain analogous to Durrington Walls. The proximity to water is quite another matter, for there is no doubt that even in Roman times water was much more abundant on the surface of the Plain than is now the case. One might suppose that the work was constructed in degenerate days when folk no longer welcomed the wild north-wester, were it not that Colt Hoare says, page 169 et seq. vol. i. Ancient Wilts, that he picked up "a great deal of pottery within the area," and later indicates his belief that the ware was pre-Roman and early. This statement has been questioned for no very obvious reason, since that great man is admittedly reliable as |