The Ditch of the Wizard... Mystery envelopes the origin, and a solemn awe is felt by the country folk in the presence of a work passing by the ominous name of Grimsdyke, i.e. the foss or ditch of Grim. The name itself is ancient. It occurs in a charter granted by Edmund Earl of Cornwall, in the reign of King Henry the Third, to the Monastery of Bonhommes, at Ashridge in Bucks. Certain it is, that the extent of country traversed by the Dyke is very great, and the labour of moving so great a mass of earth could only have been undertaken when whole tribes turned out to break the ground, nothing daunted by the difficulty of moving soil with their fingers, or at best a wooden spade and wicker-basket. We find the well known features of our old friend... in full preservation over Berkhampstead Common towards Ashridge. But for what purpose all this labour? Did this line... connect Strong Holds... Military work... a territorial line, the boundary of tribes or nations? Let us suggest... our Dyke owes its name to the superstition which assigns such matters to a supernatural origin; and that the aid of the magician or wizard was necessary for the digging of so deep, so long a trench, for Grima is the Saxon for magician. And with this clue, we may fairly interpret Grimsdyke as the Ditch of the Wizard. That fairies make fun or make mischief, that ghosts and spectres have peculiar liberty on the soil of the Dyke, is the current belief of the country gossips. (Rev. W. J. Burgess, M.A., Antiquities of the Chiltern Hills, Architectural and Archaeological Society for the County of Buckingham, Bucks Herald, 1850).
Posted on: Sun, 03 Nov 2013 08:26:58 +0000
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