| Summary : Woodhenge is a henge surrounded by a ditch and outer bank with an entrance to the north-east, believed to date to around 1800 BC. The interior of the henge includes six concentric rings of timber postholes, representing the site of a large circular structure, now marked by concrete bollards. The surrounding ditch was 12 metres wide and 2.4 metres deep, separated from the bank by a narrow berm. The outer bank is up to 10 metres wide and about a metre high. The outermost ring of postholes measures 43 metres by 40 metres. The site was recorded as an earthwork in the early 19th century by Colt Hoare, although until the 1920s it was regarded as a large disc barrow. Aerial photographs revealed the postholes as cropmarks, prompting excavation in 1926-8 by M E and B H Cunnington. This produced the type site Class I 'henge' monument. Additional excavations occurred in 1970. Excavations revealed a crouched inhumation within a grave dug into the bottom of the ditch, opposite the entrance. A second grave containing the crouched skeleton of a child was found near the centre of the monument. Other finds included a cremation, pottery, chalk axes and other tools. The site was originally known as 'Dough Cover', the name 'Woodhenge' emerged later during the Cunnington's excavations. More recent investigations by the Stonehenge Riverside Project team have explored the relationship of this monument with the circle of wood at nearby Durrington Walls and Stonehenge, establishing how these various monuments might have been integrated into a single scheme in which the structures were linked by artificial avenues and the natural feature of the River Avon. It has been suggested that the different materials used (i.e. stone, wood etc) may also have had significance for ideas and practices of transformation involving the living and the dead. The site is in the care of English Heritage. |
More information : (SU 15064338) Woodhenge (NR). (1)
The earliest published reference is by Colt Hoare who called it an 'enormous Druid barrow' (ie a disc barrow. Until 1925 it was assumed to be a barrow and published as such on all OS plans).
Excavations by M E and B H Cunnington from 1926-8, following the air photograph of 1926 produced the type site Class I 'henge' monument.
It consisted of a platform, enclosed by a 7 ft deep ditch, berm and outer bank, the whole being roughly circular and with an overall diameter of 285 ft. The bank and ditch enclosed six settings of timber post holes. Near the centre was an interment of an infant with a cleft skull; in one hole (C14) a cremation, and a crouched inhumation were found in a grave in the bottom of the ditch. Finds included Windmill Hill and Rinyo-Clacton ware from primary locations, two ritual chalk axes, scrapers and, petit tranchet derivatives. Sherds of 'B' beakers were found above the secondary silting. (2-4).
A Neolithic chalk cup, now in Devizes Museum is labelled as from hole C7 at Woodhenge, though not recorded in the monograph (5).
Six Neolithic storage pits with Rinyo-Clacton pottery were found and these antedated the henge monument (6).
SU 151434. Devizes Museum has a tourmaline axe hammer (P293); a group I axe (P837) and part of a Greenstone axe (P838) (7).
Concrete posts now indicate the timber post holes of the monument which is in the care of the MPBW.
Surveyed at 1:625 with a reduction to 1:2500. See classic air photo of 30.6.1926 and modern photo, both reproduced by National Monuments Record. (8-10)
Woodhenge is a small henge, circular in plan, 85m in diameter, with an entrance on the north east. The ditch was found to be 6m wide, 2.4m deep separated from the bank by a narrow berm. Six concentric rings of post holes are present within the interior, the outer most ring measures 43m x 40m. The post holes increased in depth and diameter from the outermost ring to the third ring, and are narrowest within the third ring. It is thought that the post holes represented a timber building rather than an arrangement of free standing posts. (11)
Excavations carried out in 1970, on the bank and ditch (12) provided C14 dates of 1867 bc +/-74 (BM-677) and 1805 bc +/- 54 (BM-678) from material within the ditch. (13)
Recent interpretations on Woodhenge have been discussed by Barrett. (14)
Additional references. (15-16)
This article presents evidence for the intentionally structured deposition at Woodhenge. (17)
Additional reference. (18)
Woodhenge lies within the area mapped from aerial photographs by both RCHME's Salisbury Plain Training Area NMP and EH's Stonehenge WHS Mapping Project, but no further information was obtained from those surveys. (19)
Woodhenge is a Scheduled henge monument, surrounded by a ditch and outer bank with a single entrance to the north east, which is believed to date to around 1800 BC. The interior of the henge includes six concentric rings of timber postholes, representing the site of a large circular structure, which are now marked by concrete bollards. The surrounding ditch was found to be up to 12 metres wide and 2.4 metres deep. The outer bank is up to 10 metres wide and about a metre high. Neolithic occupation debris and six storage pits were found beneath the bank of Woodhenge. (20)
Evidence for intentionally structured deposition at the site, comparing and contrasting it to those at Stonehenge I and Durrington Walls. (21)
This article reviews recent interpretations of Stonehenge in terms of contrasting uses of stone and timber in the mid-third millennium BC. It explores the relationship of this monument with circles of wood at nearby Durrington Walls and Woodhenge, establishing how these various monuments might have been integrated into a single scheme in which the structures were linked by artificial avenues and the natural feature of the River Avon. It also investigates the ways in which substances other than wood and stone - turf, earth, chalk and wood ash - may also have had significance for ideas and practices of transformation involving the living and the dead. (22)
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