76 THE PAST AND FUTURE OF THE ESSEX FIELD CLUB.
works, raised with an eye to the siege of the great British fortress on
the other side of the river." Then the reviewer, turning from this
aspect of the subject, remarks with regard to the newspaper com-
ments about the dykes, that the ludicrous part of the story is "the
curious fact that there are people who fancy themselves to know
something of English history and antiquities who yet did not know
that England contained two Dorchesters," and who, consequently,
thought that the antiquities of the other Dorchester were threatened.
Really, however, as we shall see, "the ludicrous part of the story" is
the blind trust of the Saturday reviewer in documentary evidence of
the most feeble and inadequate description; his utter lack of per-
ception that only excavations could give solid information as to the
age of the intrenchments ; and his ignorance of the fact that the
purpose of their makers could only be manifest, if at all, to persons
well acquainted with the ground, and having a good eye for its geolo-
gical and topographical features.
On the other hand, Col. A. Lane Fox, in addition to persuading
the owner of the land to stop the demolition of the dykes, carefully
examined the sections made during the progress of the work of
destruction. He found in and close to the dykes abundant evidence
of the fabrication of flint implements, the nearest beds with flints
being two or three miles away, and several pieces of ancient British
pottery.3 He also remarks : "I found no trace of Roman tiles or
pottery, nor can I learn that anything Roman has been discovered on
the site of the camp, though no doubt Dorchester itself was at one
time a Roman station." He adds that the works were thus evidently
British, and that "Sinodun Hill was no doubt the principal strong-
hold, and the Dorchester Dykes, on the low ground to the north of
the river, were thrown up to cover the passage of the river at the ford,
and secure a communication with the left bank." And I venture to
think that anyone with an eye for country who visits the place will
see that Col. Lane Fox's view as to the former use of Dorchester
Dykes is the only rational one, and that, in the words of a military
correspondent of the "Pall Mall Gazette" (July 11, 1870), "Dorchester
Camp occupies a position which no enemy at any period of warfare
would have taken up for the attack of Sinodun." I have given
these details pretty fully because no better example could have been
selected to show the difference between the results of scientific
3 Mr. Jukes-Browne, of the Geological Survey, having kindly marked on my map the position
of the nearest flint-bearing deposits, I learn that the nearest flint gravel is at Satwell Hill, south
of the Thames.