Thus o'er thy every feature spread,
No finger on thy front could trace,
'Tis God's handwriting on thy face."
S. S. S.
Grimsdyke (Vol. iv. passim).
—Your correspondent NAUTILUS asks it there are any ancient entrenchments in England known by the name of Grimsdyke, besides the one he mentions in Hants. I have to inform him that one of the most remarkable of the many Celtic and Druidical remains on Dartmoor, in the county of Devon, is Grimspound, with its dyke or ditch, a small stream running through, or just outside, its circumvallation. He will find two very good accounts of it lately published, one in A Perambulation of the Ancient and Royal Forest of Dartmoor: by Samuel Rowe, M.A., Vicar of Crediton (published by Hamilton, Adams & Co.); and another, in a Guide to the Eastern Encampment of Dartmoor, with a Descriptive Map (published by Dr. Croker, of South Bovey).[2]
[2] The Guide is published by Holden, Exeter; and Kirkman and Thackray, London.]
There is a good print of Grimspound in Mr. Rowe's book, who describes it as by far the finest and most extraordinary of all the relics of this class. Its situation is on the N.W. slope of Hamel Down, on the borders of the parishes of Manaton (Colonel Hamilton says, Maen-y-dun, the fort or inclosure of erect stones), North Bovey, and Widdecombe. Dr. Croker says Grimspound is about 400 feet diameter; the wall inclosing the area is formed of loose stones (granite), several of which are of immense size: when first erected it appears to have been about twelve feet in height. There are two entrances, N. and S., with evident marks of a pavement. Within are many smaller circles formed by erect stones three feet high, and in general twelve feet in diameter.
WM. COLLYNS, Surgeon.
Kenton, Devon.