20 WITHAMBURY.
name and date and shape and maker we know, and in the criticism
of which there is no possibility of calling it Roman or Celtic, or
Danish, even by the most enthusiastic antiquissimists.
The "English Chronicle" tells us :—
a.d. 913. "And then" (after the Hertford Burg was finished), "during the
summer between Rogation days and midsummer, King Edward went with some of
his forces to Maeldune in Essex, and there lived the while the Burg at Witham
was wrought and getimbred (built.)"
During frequent visits to this camp in the winter times, I have
been able to follow out the general outline of the walls. As will
be seen by the annexed plan they present a rounded outline, or
the camp might perhaps be more correctly described as a square
with much rounded corners. Within the larger circuit is an inner
wall, having nearly the same shape as the outer one, and placed at a
regular distance from it. On the south-west side, or that on which
the River Panta runs, the hill-side is very steep ; on the other sides
the land slopes gently from the middle of the camp. The situation
was undoubtedly a very weak one, from a military point of view. On
that side facing the river there were two walls joining the inner and
outer ones, as if marking a second or third subdivision,2 and on the
least accessible side. But these are very faintly seen now : here and
there faint signs of a ditch may be traced. The ditches were, of
course, dry; about thirty feet wide, and of slight depth. In one or
two places where I have been able to examine them, they did not
exceed three feet deep, except on the side towards the church, and
there apparently the depth was much greater. This increased depth
was needed in consequence of the ground not falling away in that
direction.
As usual, the banks were made of the material thrown out of the
ditches; and the height was regulated by the necessities of the case,
and the banks varied in this respect. I should think that, measured
from the inside, the average height was seven feet.
Whatever general meaning became subsequently attached to the
verb "getimbrian," the word "getimbred" as used in the "English
Chronicle "in this case (and others like it), meant" wooden construc-
tion."
The burg, or bury, was a fortification, or military post. Where the
Saxons constructed a stronghold, or military station, to hold an army
2 Danbury has three divisions.