Location
The enclosure is on the Walton Down at ST 4289 7377, to the northeast of village of Walton in Gordano. The earthwork banks and ditch were detected from aerial photographs from 1930 and 1946. Since then many of the features have been hidden by encroaching vegetation. [1] The earthworks are obscured by gorse, scrub, brambles and small bushes. They have been affected by ant hills, which often are found on former pastures, and by a rabbit warren from the Middle Ages. Two round Bronze Age barrows were found in a 1931 field survey on Walton Down near to the banjo enclosure.
Similar banjo enclosures elsewhere have been dated to the middle and late Iron Age. The enclosure may have been used to hold livestock or for a seasonal pastoral settlement. Earthworks of this form found in Ireland were used as sheep pens. [1] However, recent research suggests that most banjo enclosures were settlement sites, and may have been occupied by people of high status. [5]
The enclosure is one of just four that have been noted in Somerset by English Heritage, and is the easiest to see from the ground since the land has not been farmed for many years. It can be accessed by a medieval pathway that crosses the site.
Description
The enclosure is oval, about 100 metres (330 ft) along the WSW-ENE axis and 88 metres (289 ft) along the NNW-SSE axis. It contains an area of about 7,000 square metres (75,000 sq ft). The enclosure is surrounded by a rampart of limestone blocks, mainly less than 2.5 feet (0.76 m) high. The inner bank is from 2 to 3 metres (6 ft 7 in to 9 ft 10 in) wide, with an outer ditch from 1 to 2 metres (3 ft 3 in to 6 ft 7 in) wide. The ditch is now about 9 inches (230 mm) deep and the banks now average 0.3 metres (1 ft 0 in) in height. [1]
There are entrances on the south and north east sides, approached by paths between parallel banks. Two parallel banks extend 150 metres (490 ft) in a WSW-ENE direction from the ENE side. They are both about 2 metres (6 ft 7 in) wide, and are 8.5 to 9 metres (28 to 30 ft) apart. A linear NE-SW earth bank crosses the end of the avenue formed by these bank at right angles, with a 4 metres (13 ft) gap in the centre. It is about 3 metres (9.8 ft) wide and 81 metres (266 ft) long. [1] The 1946 photograph shows what is probably a bomb crater in the ENE avenue.
There is a rhomboidal enclosure about 46 by 30 metres (151 by 98 ft) of earth banks and ditches about 70 metres (230 ft) southwest of the centre of the banjo enclosure, at ST 4295 7373. [1]
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) north-east of Stonehenge, just north of the town of Amesbury.
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:
- Henge (> 20 m). 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.
- Hengiform monument (5 – 20 m). 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.
- Henge enclosure (> 300 m). 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 is sometimes used as a synonym for a henge enclosure. However, sometimes Super henge is used to indicate size alone rather than use, e.g. "Marden henge ... is the least understood of the four British 'superhenges' ".
Arbor Low is a well-preserved Neolithic henge in the Derbyshire Peak District, England. It lies on a carboniferous limestone plateau known as the White Peak area. The monument consists of a stone circle surrounded by massive earthworks and a ditch.
Maumbury Rings is a Neolithic henge in the south of Dorchester town in Dorset, England. It is a large circular earthwork, 85 metres in diameter, with a single bank and an entrance to the north east. It was modified during the Roman period when it was adapted for use as an amphitheatre, and the site was remodelled again during the English Civil War when it was used as an artillery fort guarding the southern approach to Dorchester. The monument is now a public open space, and used for open-air concerts, festivals and re-enactments.
Mount Pleasant henge is a Neolithic henge enclosure in the English county of Dorset. It lies southeast of Dorchester in the civil parish of West Stafford. It still partially survives as an earthwork.
Walton Common is a 25.5 hectare biological Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) near the village of Walton in Gordano, North Somerset, notified in 1991.
The Bull Ring is a Class II henge that was built in the late Neolithic period near Dove Holes in Derbyshire, England.
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'.
Vespasian's Camp is an Iron Age hillfort close to the town of Amesbury, Wiltshire, England. The camp is less than 3 kilometres (2 mi) from the Neolithic and Bronze Age site of Stonehenge and was built on a hill next to the Stonehenge Avenue and borders the River Avon on its southern side and the A303 on its northern edge. It is inside the boundaries of the Stonehenge World Heritage Site.
Scratchbury Camp is the site of an Iron Age univallate hillfort on Scratchbury Hill, overlooking the Wylye valley about 1km northeast of the village of Norton Bavant in Wiltshire, England. The fort covers an area of 37 acres (15 ha) and occupies the summit of the hill on the edge of Salisbury Plain, with its four-sided shape largely following the natural contours of the hill.
Chiselbury is the site of an Iron Age univallate hillfort located in Wiltshire. The hillfort is sub-circular in plan, and encloses an area of approximately 10.5 acres (460,000 sq ft). It is defined by an earthen rampart up to 3.6 metres (12 ft) in height and an external ditch, up to a maximum of 1.6 metres (5.2 ft) in depth. A gap in the southeastern side of the rampart, and a corresponding causeway across the ditch, is thought to be the original entrance and is associated with a small 'D' shaped embanked enclosure, which is apparently visible on aerial photographs. Although the enclosure has subsequently been degraded by ploughing, it is still apparent as a series of low earthworks.
Drove Cottage Henge is a Scheduled Ancient Monument in the Priddy parish of Somerset, England. It is located 370 metres (1,210 ft) north of Drove Cottage. The site is a ceremonial Neolithic location. Since this henge is one of only around 80 henges throughout England, it is considered to be nationally important.
Knowlton Circles are a complex of henges and earthworks in Knowlton, Dorset, England. The henge enclosing Knowlton Church is the best known and best preserved, but there are at least two other henges in the vicinity as well as numerous round barrows.
Castle Rings is a univallate hill fort in the parish of Donhead St Mary in Wiltshire in England. The fort is a Scheduled Ancient Monument, with a list entry identification number of 1005698. Castle Rings has been dated to the Iron Age and is situated at an altitude of 228 metres (748 ft) upon Upper Greensand sandstone beds. The main bulk of the fort enclosure lies within the boundaries of Donhead St Mary parish but some of the outlying earthworks are situated in the neighbouring Sedgehill and Semley parish. In the mid-1980s a metal detectorist unearthed a hoard of stater coins of the Durotriges tribe within the hill fort.
Granard Motte is the remains of a motte-and-bailey castle and National Monument in Granard, County Longford, Ireland.
Trevelgue Head, also known as Porth Island, is a headland north-east of Newquay, Cornwall, England, next to Porth at the eastern end of Newquay Bay.
Wraxall Camp, or Failand Camp, is a small round earthwork in Somerset. The remains are indistinct and thickly covered by woods, but it appears to have been an Iron Age farmstead, and not a defensive structure.
Beacon Hill, also known as Harting Beacon, is a hillfort on the South Downs, in the county of West Sussex in southern England. The hillfort is located in the parish of Elsted and Treyford, in Chichester District. It is a Scheduled Ancient Monument with a list entry identification number of 1015915. The hilltop enclosure is dated to the Late Bronze Age, from the 8th to 6th centuries BC. The hillfort defences were renewed during the Late Iron Age.
Castle Goff is an enclosure about 1.5 miles (2.4 km) south-west of Camelford, in Cornwall, England. It is a scheduled monument.
Thundersbarrow Hill is an archaeological site in West Sussex, England. It is on a chalk ridge, aligned north-west to south-east, on the South Downs north of Shoreham-by-Sea.
