MISCELLANEOUS. 39
these Troy Towns, the most probable suggestion which I
have seen (but I cannot at the moment say who first
introduced it) is that they were not for the purpose
of confusion, like the modern garden maze (of which
there is also an example at Saffron Walden), but for the
purpose of guiding the feet of the performers in sacred
ceremonial dances. In this paper, the suggestion is referred
to that they are supposed to represent the siege of Troy.
To my mind the converse supposition, that the ancient
City of Troy took its name from a Troy Town, is more
probable. In any case, they are traceable over a wide
territory, and are known everywhere by practically the
same name. 326
The Maze, Tilty Abbey (G. E. Pritchett, E.N., x., 1897, p.
184). There is a "Troy Town" near this place. In
Mediaeval days, they were used for penance—the offender
crawling round them on hands and knees. 327
Sea Walls, Thames Estuary, date of (W. Crouch, E.N.,
vi., 1892, p. 156). These may be Roman, although this is
doubted by Spurrell. Plumstead Marsh was first reclaimed
and walled in A.D. 1279. But many sea-walls are certainly
earlier, although there is no record of their erection. In
1259, there is a record relating to the management of the
sluice gates in the walls, which let the water out from the
marshes at low tide. (E.N., vik, 1893, p. 99). A violent
hurricane in 1090 caused the river to overflow the Essex
Marshes ; so the banks must have existed at that date. Thus,
if the sea-walls can be traced back to 1090 without finding
their beginning, it seems not improbable that the Romans
may have been their constructors. Evidence which I
gathered in Lincolnshire suggested that subsidence occurred
during the Roman occupation, and that the sea-banks
there were constructed by the Romans in order to save as
much as possible of the land which had previously been
occupied without difficulty. We must not forget that
considerable local subsidence may take place, by the
vertical shrinkage of the underlying alluvium, and without
tectonic movement, particularly when a marsh is drained
for agriculture [118, 122, 128]. 328
Tree-Trunk Water-Pipes (T. V. Holmes, E.N., xiii., 1903, pp.
60-75 ; 2 figs. ; xiii., 1904, pp. 229-240). They were made
from elm trees, as the most suitable wood, and were super-
seded by iron pipes about 1808 or 1809.
(A. M. Davies, E.N., xiii.. 1903, pp. 117-118 ; p. 303).
Leaden water pipes were used by the Romans and during the
Middle Ages Wooden pipes were of later introduction.