with tracery, and as this seemed improbable—the window being in an eighteenth century wall-I made enquiry of the artist who supplied the sketch to Mr. Bradley. He admitted that, having paid a fruitless journey to Pewsey in search of the oratory tracery (which is supposed to have found a home there), he took an artist's license and introduced tracery into the two-light window, with the view to making a pretty drawing, and without any intention of its reproduction. This drawing was made from an older one which did not show the tracery.

I have further ascertained from the builder who did the work, that he cut off the oratory window above the transom for the gentleman who (to quote Mr. Bradley) committed "a most deplorable act of vandalism," but that the two-light window was then, as it now exists, without tracery. I am satisfied that the drawing misled the author of the book to believe that tracery existed in two of the windows."

In 1908 the stone wall on the north with its timber framing over gave place to a new wall, with the stone doorway re-built in it, further east, while what was left of the oratory window was superseded by the one shown in the sketch of the interior above referred to. It is very much to be regretted that this further spoliation of the oldest bit of a mediæval dwelling in Marlborough (if we except the small fragment of wall remaining of the St. Margaret's Priory) should have been found necessary, and that the old work could not have been retained in the alterations, to meet modern uses.

A MEDIEVAL EARTHWORK NEAR MORGAN'S HILL.

By MRS. M. E. CUNNINGTON.'

Slight earthworks, more or less rectangular in plan, seem to occur with varying frequency in most parts of the country. Some of these have rightfully been ascribed to the Bronze Age, others more doubtfully so, but it is scarcely likely that this large and rather indefinite class of earthworks all belong to the same period, or were made for the same purpose.2

The evidence for each site must be considered independently after excavation, and a superficial resemblance in situation and plan cannot be relied on as a criterion of identity of origin.

A rather large example of these simple enclosures, which not inappropriately have been distinguished under the term of "valley entrenchments," is to be found in one of the chalk combes under the north side of the Wansdyke, and north of Old Shepherd's Shore, in the parish of Bishops Cannings.3 The Wansdyke at this point takes a sharp turn as if to avoid descending into the combe, and is carried along the southern and steeper side of the combe. The dyke is

Under the title "A Mediæval Earthwork in Wiltshire," this paper was printed in Man, January, 1910, pp. 7-13. It is here reproduced, together with the sections and plan accompanying it, by kind permission of the Royal Anthropological Institute, to whom our Society is indebted for the loan of the blocks.

2 See General Pitt-Rivers' Excavations, Vol. IV., Martin Down, South Lodge, Angle Ditch, and Handley Hill Camps; Mr. H. S. Toms, in Antiquary, Nov., 1907, and Feb., 1909, p. 47; Earthwork of England, by Hadrian Allcroft, pp. 143–152.

3 See Wilts Arch. Mag., Vol. XI., p. 246; An. Wilts, North, p. 97; Dr. Stukeley's Abury Described, pp. 27-48; Rev. A. C. Smith's Antiquities of N. Wilts, Section IV., C. VIId., p. 65; and 6-inch Ordnance Map, Wiltshire Sheet, XXVII., S.E. The earthwork is on crown land, and permission to make certain excavations in it was granted to Mr. B. H. Cunnington, F.S.A., Scot., with the approval of the tenant, Mr. A. J. Combes, of Bishops Cannings. The work was carried out during the summer of 1909.

here seen in its finest proportions, and a little to the west towards Morgan's Hill is the spot where General Pitt-Rivers cut his Section 1 in 1889.1

2

The earthwork consists of a single bank and ditch: on the north the bank is slightly higher than on either of the other sides, and on the south it appears lower than elsewhere, but excavation showed that this latter is largely due to the slope on which it is built. As is often the case in more or less rectangular earthworks, the banks are heightened at the corners. Its area is said to be seven acres one rood; along the crest of the bank it measures 607 feet on the north side, 645 feet on the south, 628 feet on the east, and 620 feet on the west. The enclosure lies on the northern slope of the combe and has therefore a southern aspect; its lower and southern boundary is in, and parallel with, the bottom of the combe. Its position is thus, a fairly sheltered one, but could never have been chosen for defensive purposes.

There are an unusually large number of very noticeable gaps or openings through the rampart. Even Dr. Stukeley noticed them and they are shown in his woodcut dated 1720.3 It will be seen on the accompanying plan (Fig. 1) that these openings occur at irregular distances on all four sides, but are scarcer on the south. On the south and east sides there are well-defined openings only 23 feet and 26 feet apart respectively. All these openings are well marked, and cannot be mistaken for a mere wearing away of the earthen rampart. In every case the ends of the rampart are clean cut, and their appearance suggests that the rampart was at first continuous and that the openings were cut through it subsequently. The gaps are fairly uniform in width, namely, about 9 feet across at the top of the bank, narrowing from 2 feet to 4 feet on the level. The slope of the ends of the rampart appear too regular to be the result of spreading, and they seem to have been cut intentionally 1 Excavations, Vol. III., p. 246.

2 As there is necessarily a greater length of ditch in proportion to that of the bank at the angles, the extra material thus obtained may account for the increase in the size of the banks at these spots; they need not have been increased intentionally for extra strength,

3 Abury Described, p. 48, plate XI.