Places in Middle-earth
Helm's Dike
Type: Fortresses, Towers, Defenses
Region: Rohan
Location: Stretched across the Deeping Coomb as the ravine widens out, it lies about a quarter of a mile below the Hornburg.
Description: 'Not far ahead now lies Helm's Dike, an ancient trench and rampart scored across the coomb, two furlongs below Helm's Gate. There we can turn and give battle.'
'Nay, we are too few to defend the Dike,' said Théoden. 'It is a mile long or more, and the breach in it is wide.'
'At the breach our rearguard must stand, if we are pressed,' said Éomer.
There was neither star nor moon when the Riders came to the breach in the Dike, where the stream from above passed out, and the road beside it ran down from the Hornburg. The rampart loomed suddenly before them, a high shadow beyond a dark pit.
TTT, Book III, Ch 7, Helm's Deep
Contributors: Lyllyn 7.31.03