In his book on “Early British Trackways, Moats, Mounds, Camps, and Sites” (published in London by Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent and Co. Ltd., at 4s. 6d. net), Alfred Watkins, Fellow and Progress Medallist (for 1910) of the Royal Photographic Society, and Past President of the Woolhope Naturalists’ Field Club, advances some very interesting theories regarding the origin and object of familiar features of the countryside. Mr. Watkins explains: “Presume a primitive people, with few or no enclosures, wanting a few necessities (as salt, flint, flakes, and, later on, metals) only to be had from a distance. The shortest way to such a distant point was a straight line, and laid out in much the same way that a marksman gets the back and fore sights of his rifle in line with the target.” He then proceeds to prove with logical argument and an excellent series of photographic reproductions that moats, mounds, and churches line up in straight lines with a hill peak at one end and with bits of old tracks and antiquarian objects on the line. This excellent little book, which also throws new light on the evolution of defensive camps, of the sites of castles and churches, and on the meaning of place names, should provide a new objective for field ramblers and scoutmasters.
Source info: Cuttings agency.