Mr. Alred Watkins, of Hereford, an acute and accomplished student of the countryside is the author of a handsomely produced little work entitled “Early British Trackways, Moats, Mounds, Camps, and Sites,” embodying what is rightly claimed as a discovery of wide scope.
The author reveals for the first time the systematic planning of prehistoric trackways, and throws a flood of light on the evolution of defensive camps, on sites of castles and churches, and on the meaning of place names, thus providing a new interest and purpose for field ramblers, scout masters, and—may we not say?—girl guides.
Mr. Watkins’ observations have shown him that long before the Romans came, and after they disappeared from these islands, trackways for the guidance of travellers existed, being marked out in straight lines by experts on a sighting system. These primitive lines of communication ran from mountain peak to mountain peak, marked en route by different kinds of mounds, clumps of trees, ponds or wells, or cuts in elevated banks, or ridges.
In course of time points thus indicated became the sites of defensive earthworks, and castles, churches were built close to them and homesteads gradually clustered around, and place names still preserved expressed their character and purpose.
Many examples, mostly in Herefordshire, promise ample results for an imitation ofWord illegible: guessed Mr. Watkins’ researches in any area, and a large number of photographs, excellently reproduced, convincingly illustrate the author’s thesis.
Source info: MS note by AW “Worcester Herald July 29 1922”.