Marden Henge

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Marden Henge
Marden Henge map.png
Map of Marden Henge
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Shown within Wiltshire
Location Marden, Wiltshire
grid reference SU091582
Coordinates 51°19′24″N1°52′16″W / 51.3233°N 1.8712°W / 51.3233; -1.8712
Type Henge
History
Periods Neolithic

Marden Henge (also known as Hatfield Earthworks) is the largest Neolithic henge enclosure discovered to date in the United Kingdom. [1] The monument is north-east of the village of Marden, Wiltshire, within the Vale of Pewsey and between the World Heritage Sites of Avebury and Stonehenge. [2]

Contents

Description

The enclosure is roughly oval in shape, and is enclosed by a typical bank and internal ditch arrangement constructed on the east, north and north-west sides and by the River Avon to the south and west. [3] [4] Its greatest width is 530 m and it encompasses an area of 14 hectares (35 acres), [5] and is under the care of English Heritage. Antiquarian accounts of the site describe a huge mound within the enclosure called Hatfield Barrow, which collapsed after excavation by William Cunnington in the early 19th century. Today, Marden Henge has been damaged by ploughing, and no longer has any standing stones.

Around 1 kilometre to the south, archaeologists have detected the presence of another henge known as Wilsford Henge. [6]

Archaeology

The area was designated as a scheduled monument in 1953. [7] The site was excavated by Geoff Wainwright in 1969; he excavated the north entrance and found a timber circle, and Grooved ware pottery, similar to Durrington Walls. The finds are at Wiltshire Museum in Devizes, where there is also a small display.

In 2010, the henge and surrounding area were investigated through aerial, geophysical, and field survey. [8] During the dig, a Neolithic building was discovered, described as the best preserved Neolithic building in England. [9]

The site is included in a three-year investigation of the Pewsey Vale, beginning in 2015, by the Department of Archaeology at the University of Reading. [10] [11]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stonehenge</span> Ancient monument in England

Stonehenge is a prehistoric megalithic structure on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, England, two miles (3 km) west of Amesbury. It consists of an outer ring of vertical sarsen standing stones, each around 13 feet (4.0 m) high, seven feet (2.1 m) wide, and weighing around 25 tons, topped by connecting horizontal lintel stones. Inside is a ring of smaller bluestones. Inside these are free-standing trilithons, two bulkier vertical sarsens joined by one lintel. The whole monument, now ruinous, is aligned towards the sunrise on the summer solstice and sunset on the winter solstice. The stones are set within earthworks in the middle of the densest complex of Neolithic and Bronze Age monuments in England, including several hundred tumuli.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Silbury Hill</span> Neolithic mound in Wiltshire, England

Silbury Hill is a prehistoric artificial chalk mound near Avebury in the English county of Wiltshire. It is part of the Stonehenge, Avebury and Associated Sites UNESCO World Heritage Site. At 39.3 metres (129 ft) high, it is the tallest prehistoric human-made mound in Europe and one of the largest in the world; similar in volume to contemporary Egyptian pyramids.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Woodhenge</span> Neolithic henge and timber circle monument near Stonehenge

Woodhenge is a Neolithic Class II henge and timber circle monument within the Stonehenge World Heritage Site in Wiltshire, England. It is 2 miles (3.2 km) northeast of Stonehenge, in Durrington parish, just north of the town of Amesbury.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henge</span> Type of Neolithic earthwork

There are three related types of Neolithic earthwork that are all sometimes loosely called henges. The essential characteristic of all three is that they feature a ring-shaped bank and ditch, with the ditch inside the bank. Because the internal ditches would have served defensive purposes poorly, henges are not considered to have been defensive constructions. The three henge types are as follows, with the figure in brackets being the approximate diameter of the central flat area:

  1. Henge. The word henge refers to a particular type of earthwork of the Neolithic period, typically consisting of a roughly circular or oval-shaped bank with an internal ditch surrounding a central flat area of more than 20 m (66 ft) in diameter. There is typically little if any evidence of occupation in a henge, although they may contain ritual structures such as stone circles, timber circles and coves. Henge monument is sometimes used as a synonym for henge. Henges sometimes, but by no means always, featured stone or timber circles, and circle henge is sometimes used to describe these structures. The three largest stone circles in Britain are each within a henge. Examples of henges without significant internal monuments are the three henges of Thornborough Henges. Although having given its name to the word henge, Stonehenge is atypical in that the ditch is outside the main earthwork bank.
  2. Hengiform monument. Like an ordinary henge, except the central flat area is between 5 and 20 m (16–66 ft) in diameter, they comprise a modest earthwork with a fairly wide outer bank. The terms mini-henge or Dorchester henge are sometimes used as synonyms for hengiform monument. An example is the Neolithic site at Wormy Hillock Henge.
  3. Henge enclosure. A Neolithic ring earthwork with the ditch inside the bank, with the central flat area having abundant evidence of occupation and usually being more than 300 m (980 ft) in diameter. Some true henges are as large as this, but lack evidence of domestic occupation. Super-henge or superhenge is sometimes used as a synonym for a henge enclosure. However, sometimes the term is used to indicate size alone rather than use, e.g. "Marden henge ... is the least understood of the four British 'superhenges' ".
<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vale of Pewsey</span> Vale in Wiltshire, England

The Vale of Pewsey or Pewsey Vale is an area of Wiltshire, England to the east of Devizes and south of Marlborough, centred on the village of Pewsey.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Causewayed enclosure</span> Prehistoric earthwork

A causewayed enclosure is a type of large prehistoric earthwork common to the early Neolithic in Europe. It is an enclosure marked out by ditches and banks, with a number of causeways crossing the ditches. More than 100 examples are recorded in France and 70 in Southern England and Wales, while further sites are known in Scandinavia, Belgium, Germany, Italy, Ireland and Slovakia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Durrington Walls</span> Late Neolithic palisaded enclosure

Durrington Walls is the site of a large Neolithic settlement and later henge enclosure located in the Stonehenge World Heritage Site in England. It lies 2 miles (3.2 km) north-east of Stonehenge in the parish of Durrington, just north of Amesbury in Wiltshire. The henge is the second-largest Late Neolithic palisaded enclosure known in the United Kingdom, after Hindwell in Wales.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Sanctuary</span> Prehistoric site in Wiltshire, England

The Sanctuary was a stone and timber circle near the village of Avebury in the south-western English county of Wiltshire. Excavation has revealed the location of the 58 stone sockets and 62 post-holes. The ring was part of a tradition of stone circle construction that spread throughout much of Britain, Ireland, and Brittany during the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age, over a period between 3300 and 900 BCE. The purpose of such monuments is unknown, although archaeologists speculate that the stones represented supernatural entities for the circle's builders.

Robin Hood’s Ball is a Neolithic causewayed enclosure on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, England, approximately 5 miles (8 km) northwest of the town of Amesbury, and 2+12 miles (4.0 km) northwest of Stonehenge. The site was designated as a scheduled monument in 1965.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maud Cunnington</span> British archaeologist

Maud Edith Cunnington was a Welsh archaeologist, best known for her pioneering work on some of the most important prehistoric sites of Salisbury Plain.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Figsbury Ring</span> Earthworks in Wiltshire, England

Figsbury Ring is an 11.2 hectare biological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Wiltshire, England, notified in 1975. It is owned and managed by the National Trust.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Waulud's Bank</span>

Waulud's Bank is a possible Neolithic henge in Leagrave, Luton dating from 3,000BC.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Priddy Circles</span>

Priddy Circles are a linear arrangement of four circular earthwork enclosures near the village of Priddy on the Mendip Hills in Somerset, England. The circles have been listed as Scheduled Ancient Monuments, and described as 'probable Neolithic ritual or ceremonial monuments similar to a henge'.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Winterbourne Stoke</span> Human settlement in England

Winterbourne Stoke is a village and civil parish in Wiltshire, England, about 5 miles (8 km) west of Amesbury and 3 miles (4.8 km) west of the prehistoric monument of Stonehenge.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Normanton Down Barrows</span> Barrows in England

Normanton Down is a Neolithic and Bronze Age barrow cemetery, about 0.6 miles (1 km) south of Stonehenge in Wiltshire, England. The burials date from between 2600 and 1600 BC and consist of a Neolithic long barrow and some 40 or more Bronze Age round barrows, along the crest of a low ridge.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cursus Barrows</span> Barrow cemetery in England

The Cursus Barrows is the name given to a Neolithic and Bronze Age round barrow cemetery lying mostly south of the western end of the Stonehenge Cursus, in Wiltshire, England. The cemetery contains around 18 barrows scattered along an east-to-west ridge, although some of the mounds are no longer visible. The Cursus Barrows can be seen just north of the route between the Stonehenge Visitor Centre and Stonehenge.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Knap Hill</span> Earthwork in Wiltshire, England

Knap Hill lies on the northern rim of the Vale of Pewsey, in northern Wiltshire, England, about a mile north of the village of Alton Priors. At the top of the hill is a causewayed enclosure, a form of Neolithic earthwork that was constructed in England from about 3700 BC onwards, characterized by the full or partial enclosure of an area with ditches that are interrupted by gaps, or causeways. Their purpose is not known: they may have been settlements, or meeting places, or ritual sites of some kind. The site has been scheduled as an ancient monument.

Wilsford Henge is the site of a Neolithic henge, west of the village of Wilsford, Wiltshire in the United Kingdom. The site was discovered from cropmarks in aerial photographs. The monument lies within the Vale of Pewsey, a short distance south of the large henge known as Marden Henge.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coneybury Henge</span> Henge in Wiltshire, England

Coneybury Henge is a henge which is part of the Stonehenge Landscape in Wiltshire, England. The henge, which has been almost completely flattened, was only discovered in the 20th century. Geophysical surveys and excavation have uncovered many of its features, which include a northeast entrance, an internal circle of postholes, and fragments of bone and pottery.

References

Notes

  1. Dyer, 2001. p. 191.
  2. Leary & Field, 2010. p. 10.
  3. Dyer, 2001. p. 191.
  4. Castleden, 1992. p. 219.
  5. Malone, Caroline (2001). Neolithic Britain and Ireland. The History press. p. 172. ISBN   9780752414423.
  6. "Marden Environs Geophysical Survey". Historic England. Retrieved 24 March 2016.
  7. Historic England. "The Hatfield Earthwork (1014617)". National Heritage List for England . Retrieved 16 September 2015.
  8. "Work starts on prehistoric Marden Henge in Wiltshire". BBC News . 28 June 2010. Retrieved 23 July 2010.
  9. "Marden Henge dig uncovers 4,500-year-old dwelling". BBC News . 19 July 2010. Retrieved 23 July 2010.
  10. "About the Vale of Pewsey project". University of Reading. Retrieved 16 March 2016.
  11. Smith, Roff (6 August 2015). "This Ancient British Monument Was 10 Times Bigger Than Stonehenge". National Geographic Society . Archived from the original on 8 August 2015. Retrieved 7 August 2015.

Bibliography