Abstract
FOR some time past it has been evident that public interest in archæological discovery has been on the increase, and that this interest has extended to sites of historic and prehistoric importance is to some extent borne out by the protests aroused some two years ago by the threat to interfere with the amenities of Stone henge. Mr. Hewlett's description of Offa's Dyke is a book which is welcome on this account. The more well-informed the public is about the antiquities of the countryside, the better chance of the avoidance of wanton damage. Mr. Hewlett has divided his account of this interesting defensive work into five sections. In the first, he gives a general description of the dyke in the second, he traces its course and offers suggestions as to its line where it has now disappeared; in the third, he describes the country through which it passes; in part four he discusses the theories of its purpose; and in the fifth, gives the main facts connected with the life of Ossa. As to its original place of termination in Flintshire, which is still a problem, Mr. Hewlett states the theories which have been put forward, but himself has no solution to offer, although he is of the opinion that it is Wat's Dyke and not Offa's Dyke which ends at Basingwirke, notwithstanding the occurrence along this line of place-names such as Plas Offa, Bryn Offa, and Clawdd Offa (Offa Dyke).
Offa's Dyke.
J. H.
Hewlett
By. Pp. 32 + 8 plates. (London: Simpkin, Marshall and Co., Ltd., n.d.) 3s. 6d. net.
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Offa's Dyke . Nature 116, 10 (1925). https://doi.org/10.1038/116010b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/116010b0