Little Round Table Henge View all content for Little Round Table

Details of henge on Pastscape The fragmentary earthwork remains of a possible henge monument, one of three such earthwork enclosures (see also NY 52 NW 2 and 12) clustered in close proximity on the narrow interfluve between the rivers Eamont and Lowther. The earthworks were surveyed by RCHME in 1988. The fragmentary remains comprise a barely discernible scarp on the northern perimeter of the site, and discontinuous traces of a low earthen bank with some stone visible along the southern perimeter. When projected into a full circle, these fragments suggest an enclosure of circa 90 metres in diameter across its banks. The remainder of the site is severely mutilated by buildings, tracks and roads. William Stukeley sketched the site in 1725, depicting it as a roughly circular enclosure circa 90 metres in diameter with, perhaps significantly, a bank with outer ditch. No entrance is apparent, although in 1790, Pennant seems to have recorded one in the north east sector. Some excavation was undertaken in 1939 by G Bersu. No dating evidence was recovered, and one of his three trenches failed to locate the ditch. However, the possibility that it may in fact have located an entrance seems to have been confirmed by geophysical survey in 1988. If so, this entrance is roughly in the position recorded by Pennant. The site is scheduled. Its identification as a henge is unconfirmed, the principal problems being lack of dating evidence from the excavations, and the internal bank. However, its topographical position, and its proximity to two other broadly similar enclosures, suggest that it should be viewed as broadly contemporary, even if it fails to conform to current definitions of henge monuments.

Posted by Chance 4th January 2015ce

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