Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 6.djvu/365

IN THE NORTH RIDTXG OF YORKSHIRE. 223 Before its enclosure this district was called Gatcrlcy Moor, and the earthwork was called the " Double Dikes," from the perfect state of the entrenchment. Old people take pleasure in describing the heiglit of the dikes, and the enormous depth of the ditch ; all this is now levelled, nothing remains to test the accuracy of their memory but the crossing fences. Thence the dike proceeded to jIelsonby, where are persons still living who can recollect and point out its course through the village, but the inquirer must rest satisfied with their accounts, for there are no traces to be seen. A little north of Melsonby, however, there are faint traces of the ditch in the field called Lady well, and after crossing the lane which leads to Upper Langdale, and following a short lane, through which it doubtless ran, we find traces of the ditch in the field beyond, easily to be distinguished from the more natural water-course which falls into it from the westward. From this place it becomes very visible, and, after making two con- siderable angles, for which no apparent cause can be assigned, one to the westward, and another to the northward, it passes the farm called Lower Langdale, and, a little beyond, branches out into those singular entrenchments of which the orio-jn and purpose have given rise to much ingenious conjecture. Over what space of ground these works originally extended cannot now be determined, but it is probable that they ori- ginally included the abrupt angles at Langdale, which we have just mentioned. It is equally impossible to fix the precise point at which the dike entered these entrenchments, and where it issued from them to resume its course as a single line. But, as we draw near these earthworks from Langdale we find that at the south-east corner of the Park the dike is brought up to the angle of the earthwork in such a manner, that the rampart of the work serves as a traverse to the approaching line ; and, supposing the dike to have been a road, this feature would seem to mark the spot where it entered, the entrenchments from the south ; and, if we adopt the same kind of indication as our guide, the double and treble traverse approaching the Tofts' earthwork, from Forcett, would seem to have defended the entrance to the north. Not less are the difficulties in tracing the line of the dike beyond Forcett, where it appears to emerge from the entrench- ments at a place near the village Pound.