Avebury's 'Other' Henge ?

Avebury & the Marlborough Downs 64

Image by juamei

Pete G Nov 2, 2004 17:50:23

I learn something new every day around here!
Could this have been the termination of the Beckhampton avenue if it went further than the Beckhampton Cove?
PeteG

NATIONAL MONUMENT NO: 21765
NATIONAL GRID REFERENCE(S): SU07026835
DESCRIPTION OF THE MONUMENT
The monument includes an enclosure considered to be a henge, four Bronze Age
round barrows and part of a Roman road on West Down, 500m south west of Fox
Covert. The site is situated on a south east facing slope which looks towards
the Beckhampton round barrow cemeteries.
The henge was first recorded in 1743 by William Stukeley and is shown on a plan in his book `Abury a Temple of the British Druids'. Although it has now
been levelled by cultivation, it survives as a buried oval ditch defining an
area 66m east-west and 58m north-south. There is a break in the north east
side of this circuit, visible on aerial photographs, which appears to be the
entrance.

Moth Nov 3, 2004 01:33:32

Replying to Pete G

Sounds interesting Pete! Have to get a look next time yer in the air.

If it was likely to be the end of the Beck Ave, you'da thought Josh Pollard etc woulda thought of it tho, wouldn't you? Or mebbe not....

love

Moth

MJB Nov 3, 2004 10:48:38

Replying to Pete G

Pete, an offering from EH: this appears to refer to Bishops Cannings 95, located at SU 0705 6829. The info you provide comes from the scheduled monument record. A while back, the archaeology of the Avebury World Heritage site was reappraised from air photographs by the former RCHME (now English Heritage's) Aerial Survey team in Swindon (details from the NMR). This site (record no. 215549) was reported as: "A probable barrow of Bronze Age or Late Neolithic date. It is visible on 1930s air photographs as a cropmark of an oval mound, measuring 48m by 30m, surrounded by a ditch and a bank. The slight mound in the centre could represent the remains of two mounds ploughed down to a smooth single mound...By 1988 the barrow had been ploughed sufficiently that only the surrounding ditch remained as a cropmark...No entrances or features which might suggest it is a henge were visible on the available air photographs". A case of the schedule entry not quite keeping up to date with things, but they'll get there soon. The henge interpretation is a bit of a puzzle, but seems to have arisen from the site's appearance on the ground and on APs during the 1970s and 1980s. The lesson seems to be, as usual, check all sources and all earlier APs first! Yes, it was drawn by Stukeley (and by the Revd W Skinner), and it was also described by Leslie Grinsell - as an oval ditch with external bank surrounding the remains of two round mounds.