THE PAST AND FUTURE OF THE ESSEX FIELD CLUB. 77
investigation and those of unscientific dogmatism, in dealing with
prehistoric monuments. It may also be well to add that, on visiting
the dykes last November I found that, though they had been
lowered very much over the greater part of their length, yet that for
a few yards towards their eastern end they retained their original
height.
The following case shows how an earthwork may gradually disap-
pear without any protest, such as partly saved Dorchester Dykes,
being evoked during the years of its deterioration. In Hasted's
"History of Kent," Vol. IV., occurs the remark: "There is a place
in this parish (Ripple), near the boundary between it and Walmer,
called Dane Pitts, where there is an entrenchment of an oblong
square, comprehending about half an acre, with various little emi-
nences in it." He adds that its name certainly points out its
antiquity, and that otherwise he would have been inclined to think
it to be the remains of one of those little encampments thrown up in
Queen Elizabeth's time, on the expectation of the Spanish invasion,
it being evidently (he thinks) a work of art, and made for a fortifica-
tion. In "Murray's Handbook for Kent" the intrenchment at Dane
Pits is mentioned as easily to be found, "although much changed
since it was figured by Hasted." The writer in Murray, however,
remarks that it is too small for a fortification of any sort, and was
probably a "bower," or Troy town, in which games took place on
certain occasions. On visiting the site of Dane Pits last summer, I
found that it was being ploughed over, a ploughman showing me
where the earthwork once was. In my notebook I find these
remarks, following a statement that the site was close to, but west of
the "D" of "Dane Pits," on the new ordnance quarter-sheet, No.
290 : "The works were on both sides of the road in a slight hollow,
and out of sight of the sea. Their position is not at all that of an
encampment, unless one for the protection of sheep and cattle from
wolves; in which latter case the position might be the more suitable
because sheltered and not on the top of the ridge. But then, one
hardly sees the reason for the 'various little eminences,' within men-
tioned by Hasted." On the other hand, if it was probably a "bower,"
or Troy town, how did it get the name "Dane Pits"? Thus we
have in this case nothing but a drawing in Hasted and a knowledge
of the position of the site of a specially interesting earthwork, the
want of any practical exploration preventing the existence of any-
thing beyond mere conjecture as to its age and character.