J. F. F.
West Newton.
To the various instances already recorded in "N. & Q.," of ancient earthworks having received the name "Grimesdyke," the following may be added.
One on Cranbourne Chase, Dorset; three in Berkshire, viz., one near Silchester, one near Oare, where also are Grimsbury, and Grimsbury Forest; another, intersected by the Thames, near Wallingford; another near Witney, Oxfordshire.
The great fossa and vallum of Lollius Urbicus in Scotland, is called Graham's and Grime's Dyke. The frequency of its application to various earthworks in such distant parts of the kingdom may perhaps be considered sufficient evidence that the name is not derived from that of any landed proprietor, as suggested by one of your correspondents. I have no doubt the derivation suggested by your first correspondent, NAUTICUS, is the true one, viz., that it is of Saxon origin, signifying Wizard, or the Evil Spirit, which indicates, not only that these earthworks were in existence in Saxon times, but that their origin was even then so remote and mysterious that they were supposed to be the work of supernatural agency. Grimesdyke, described by NAUTICUS as beginning near Berkhamsted, Herts (not Hants, as misprinted in "N. & Q."), and running across the Chiltern hills, is mentioned, temp. Henry III., in a charter of Edmund, Earl of Cornwall, granting Ashridge to the fraternity of the Bonhommes:
"Usque ad quoddam fossatum quod dicitur Grymesdich."
If this should meet the eyes of my friend NAUTICUS, wherever in the broad seas he may happen to be, he will be glad to hear that this extensive earthwork of antiquity is now undergoing the investigation of an Archæological Society, of which he is an esteemed member. I may further remark that the family name of Grimesdike is doubtless from some ancient place so named, and not these several places from the family. The armorial bearings of the family would at once suggest this conclusion. I have not found the name given to any ancient work in Wales, which of course would not be the case, if it be of Saxon origin.
POET REFERRED TO BY BACON.
(Vol. iv., p. 257.)
The poet referred to by Bacon is not the author of the Mirror for Magistrates, but ARIOSTO, whose Orlando Furioso was then popular in the recent translation of Sir John Harrington. The allegory will be found at the close of the thirty-fourth and commencement of the thirty-fifth books: