Woodhenge Circle (3), Durrington, Wiltshire

Round Barrow (destroyed):  OS Grid Reference — SU 1511 4327

Also Known as:

  1. Durrington 69

Archaeology & History

Cunningham’s sketch of Woodhenge-3 barrow

This was one of four ploughed-out round barrows (or ‘ring ditches’ in modern archaeo-jargon) that once existed immediately southeast of the well-known Woodhenge complex, constructed approximately 95 yards away.  As with others in this field, the site was first noticed as a faint crop mark in an aerial survey photograph taken in 1926.  When it was subsequently investigated at ground-level by Mr & Mrs Cunnington in August 1928, “no trace could be detected on the surface” of the monument in question—which they described as ‘Circle  III’ in their superb survey.

Very little was found in the Cunnington’s (1929) excavation, as their following brief account indicates:

“The soil was removed and the surface of the chalk brushed, over the whole of the area enclosed within this ditch.

“Only one small oval-shaped hole was found, near the edge of the ditch at “a” (above), 33in x 22in, and only 5in deep in the chalk; in it were a number of fragments of bones of a small ox and pig, a piece of burnt clay and a flint scraper weathered white.

“As there was nothing dateable in the circle it was not thought worth while to excavate more than a short section of the ditch.  Pottery comparable with that found at Woodhenge came from the old turf line and from the bottom of the ditch.

“Conclusion — Like those of the other circles (Woodhenge circles 1, 2 and 4, PB) it is probable that this ditch was originally made round a Bronze Age burial that had been placed on the surface, and that it was destroyed together with the covering mound when the ground was levelled.”

References:

  1. Cunnington, M.E., Woodhenge, George Simpson: Devizes 1929.
  2. Royal Commission Historical Monuments, England, Stonehenge and its Environs, Edinburgh University Press 1979.
  3. Wainwright, G.J. & Longworth, Ian, Durrington Walls: Excavations 1966-1968, Society of Antiquaries: London 1971.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


(Visited 42 times, 1 visits today)

Written by 

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *