The Modern Antiquarian. Stone Circles, Ancient Sites, Neolithic Monuments, Ancient Monuments, Prehistoric Sites, Megalithic MysteriesThe Modern Antiquarian

Waulud's Bank

Enclosure

Miscellaneous

Details of site on Pastscape

Fairly well preserved semi-circular earthwork enclosure of possible Neolithic or Iron Age date. The enclosure, surveyed in 1994 by RCHME, comprises a bank and external ditch, with no surviving entrances. It measures roughly 300 metres north-south by 200 metres east-west, and encloses about 5.5 hectares. The western side is formed by a later field boundary, which has truncated the enclosure. The earthworks delimit an area of low-lying ground on the eastern side of the River Lea, which rises from five springs located just inside the northern edge of the enclosure. There have been three separate episodes of excavation at the site. In 1953, small quantities of prehistoric pottery, including four sherds of Grooved Ware, were recovered from the ditch fill. A small hollow outside the ditch was tentatively identified as a Neolithic hut. In 1971, Grooved Ware sherds were found in the lower ditch fill and on the old ground surface under the bank. The ditch also contained Beaker, Peterborough, Iron Age and Romano-British sherds. In 1982, a pit, said to have been sealed beneath the bank, was excavated. It contained the skeleton of a young pig plus late Neolithic flint flakes. The pig produced a very recent radiocarbon date, and may have been associated with a piggery which once existed near the site. Geophysical survey in 1985 produced mostly negative results, although some possible pits were recorded outside the enclosure. The site has generally been regarded as a Neolithic henge-type enclosure, largely on the basis of the 1953 and 1971 excavations, and by analogy with the larger henge enclosures such as Mount Pleasant (Dorset), Marden, Durrington Walls, and Avebury (all Wiltshire). However, the evidence for dating is hardly unequivocal at present. There is considerable evidence for Iron Age activity in the immediate vicinity as well as stray finds of Neolithic and Early Bronze Age date. The earthwork has been scheduled as a Neolithic enclosure by English Heritage.
Chance Posted by Chance
4th January 2015ce

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