In reply to your correspondent NAUTICUS, who inquires whether there are
any ancient entrenchments in England known by the name of _Grimsdyke_,
besides the one he mentions in Hants, I beg to remind him that the Roman
wall (or ditch and rampart) executed between the Firths of Forth and
Clyde during the reign of the Emperor Antoninus Pius, is popularly
called by the above name. To account for the name, it has been said that
it originated in the circumstance of a chieftain of the name of _Graham_
having been the first to force his way through it; but those who gave
such a derivation of the word could scarcely have been aware that it
bears this name in common with at least two others, viz., that mentioned
by NAUTICUS as existing at Great Berkhampstead, Hants; and the other
pointed out by W. S. G. as near Salisbury.