sh camp at Uffington. There are
several White Horses cut out in the turf on the hillsides in Wiltshire,
besides the famous Berkshire one at Uffington, celebrated by Mr. Thomas
Hughes in his _Scouring of the White Horse_. We have also some turf-cut
crosses at White-leaf and Bledlow, in Buckinghamshire. The origin of
these turf monuments is still a matter of controversy. It is possible
that they may be Saxon, and may be the records of Alfred's victories;
but antiquaries are inclined to assign them to an earlier date, and
connect them with the builders of cromlechs and dolmens. It is certainly
improbable that, when he was busily engaged fighting the Danes, Alfred
and his men would have found time to construct this huge White Horse.

[Illustration: THE WHITE HORSE AT UFFINGTON]

In addition to the earthen mounds and deep ditch, which usually formed
the fortifications of these ancient strongholds, there were wicker-work
stockades, or palisading, arranged on the top of the vallum. Such
defences have been found at Uffington; and during the present year on
the ancient fortifications of the old Calleva Atrebatum, afterwards the
Roman Silchester, a friend of the writer has found the remains of
similar wattle-work stockades. Evidently tribal wars and jealousies were
not unknown in Celtic times, and the people knew how to protect
themselves from their foes.

Another important class of earthen ramparts are the long lines of
fortifications, which extend for miles across the country, and must have
entailed vast labour in their construction. These ramparts were
doubtless tribal boundaries, or fortifications used by one tribe against
another. There is the Roman rig, which, as Mrs. Armitage tells us in her
_Key to English Antiquities_, coasts the face of the hills all the way
from Sheffield to Mexborough, a distance of eleven miles. A Grims-dike
(or Grims-bank, as it is popularly called) runs across the southern
extremity of Oxfordshire from Henley to Mongewell, ten miles in length;
and near it, and parallel to it, there is a Medlers-bank, another
earthen rampart, exceeding it in length by nearly a third. Near
Salisbury there is also a Grims-dike, and in Cambridgeshire and
Cheshire. Danes' Dike, near Flamborough Head, Wans-dike, and Brokerley
Dike are other famous lines of fortifications.

There are twenty-two Grims-dikes in England. The name was probably
derived from Grim, the Saxon devil, or evil spirit; and was bestowed
upon these