Bulford Henges

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Overview

The buried remains of a pair of Late Neolithic penannular henges which are encircled by later Bronze Age ring ditches situated at approximately 97m above ordnance datum near the crest of a hill overlooking the Nine Mile River. Read the official list entry to find out more.

Heritage Category:: Scheduled Monument
List Entry Number:: 1449706
Date first listed:: 19-Oct-2017

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Official list entry

Heritage Category:: Scheduled Monument
List Entry Number:: 1449706
Date first listed:: 19-Oct-2017
Date of most recent amendment:: 13-Apr-2018
Location Description:: The monument is located within a triangular field to the south of Bulford Camp, Wiltshire. It is bounded to the east by Bulford Road and to the north by the Churchill Avenue development.

Location

The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.

District:: Wiltshire (Unitary Authority)
Parish:: Bulford
National Grid Reference:: SU1736243568

Summary

Reasons for Designation

The Bulford Henges are scheduled for the following principal reasons: * Rarity: henges are one of relatively few types of monument which characterise the later Neolithic period, and this example is one of few sites known nationally with a pair of henges side by side, both encircled by later Bronze Age ring ditches; * Potential: despite agricultural use of the site and partial excavation, the henges are considered to retain important archaeological information relating to prehistoric ritual and funerary activities and the landscape in which they were constructed; * Documentation: they have been well documented through aerial photography, geophysical survey and excavation, which enhances our knowledge of these monuments; * Group value: the site has strong group value with the group of scheduled round barrows south of Bulford, and with the wider Stonehenge and Avebury World Heritage Site landscape.

History

This site at Bulford is located approximately two kilometres east of the Stonehenge and Avebury World Heritage Site, and lies within a wider landscape which contains extensive archaeological evidence for early human activity and appears to have acted as a focal point for ceremonial and ritual activity during the Neolithic and Bronze age periods. This site contains a pair of henges dating from the Late Neolithic period. Henges are circular monuments which generally consist of an earthwork bank and internal ditch, and are found throughout England, with the exception of south-eastern counties and the Welsh Marches. Most henges have one or two entrances and vary considerably in size (up to 110m in diameter). The henge interior may contain a variety of features and deposits, and they may be associated with timber or stone circles. Henges are generally interpreted as arenas for various meetings and ceremonies, and most dated examples were constructed in the Late Neolithic period, between 2800 and 2200 BC.

The Bulford Henges were identified during preparatory work for the Defence Infrastructure Organisation's Army Basing Programme, as part of which a desk-based assessment (DBA) was undertaken in 2013 by Wessex Archaeology and which highlighted the potential for the presence of buried archaeological remains at this site. Following this, a gradiometer survey was undertaken in 2014 which confirmed the presence and extent of archaeological remains across the site.

Archaeological excavation of the site began in 2015 with 24 trenches, followed by a second phase with a further 51 trenches. These excavations confirmed the presence in the wider site of a number of Neolithic pits, an Anglo-Saxon cemetery and probable wartime military practice trenches. A third phase of excavation was commissioned in order to characterise the two henge structures and external ring ditches. These were found to comprise Late Neolithic pennanular ditches encircled by later, Bronze Age ring ditches.

Details

PRINCIPAL ELEMENTS: the buried remains of a pair of Late Neolithic penannular henges which are encircled by later Bronze Age ring ditches situated at approximately 97m above ordnance datum near the crest of a hill overlooking the Nine Mile River.

DESCRIPTION: the henges survive as the buried remains of two penannular ditches with single causewayed entrances on their northern sides. They are encircled by later conjoining Bronze Age ring ditches.

The western henge has an diameter of approximately 17.5m and a causewayed entrance on its northern side approximately 4.6m wide. Partial excavation has shown that the ditch was constructed as a series of conjoined segments. Where excavated, the segments were approximately 4.2m wide and 1m deep on the western side of the henge, reaching a depth of approximately 1.2m on the east side. The segments were shown to have had sloping sides with flat bases, with their outer edges cut away by the later Bronze Age ring ditch which encircles the earlier ditches. To the west, fragments of a Grooved Ware bowl of the Durrington Walls type were found at the base of the ditch.

The interior of the western henge contained three pits which were located around the inner edge of the ditch. These pits were found to contain Late Neolithic Woodlands-type pottery with animal bone, flint tools and a fragment of a stone axe.

The outer Bronze Age ring ditch which surrounds the western henge was found to be approximately 1.5m wide and 0.9m deep at the excavated points, with a flat base approximately 0.5m across, and steeply sloping sides. Evidence from ditch sediments suggests that the outer ditch may have been constructed with an external bank. The outer ditch contained no finds.

The ditch of the eastern henge has an internal diameter of approximately 16m and a causewayed entrance on its northern side approximately 4.6m wide. This ditch was also shown during excavation to have been constructed as a series of conjoined segments. Finds included further Grooved Ware pottery. The interior of the eastern henge was not found to contain any features, aside from modern agricultural traces and tree throws.

The outer Bronze Age ring ditch which surrounds the eastern henge was found to be approximately 2m wide on its western side and approximately 1.5m deep. The ditch had steep sides and a narrow base approximately 0.5m wide. On the eastern side, the outer ditch was found to be approximately 1.5m wide and 1.3m deep.

A further ditch, which crosses the site and curves around a section of the western monument before extending to the east, was approximately 0.6m wide and 0.24m deep. This is thought to relate to a possible Romano-British field system, and suggests that the western henge remained at least partially visible at the time of the construction of this later ditch.

Sources

Other
Wessex Archaeology, Archaeological Evaluation and Watching Brief Report, March 2015
Wessex Archaeology, Characterisation Report: Bulford Henges, December 2016
Wessex Archaeology, Detailed Gradiometer Report, August 2014

Legal

This monument is scheduled under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979 as amended as it appears to the Secretary of State to be of national importance. This entry is a copy, the original is held by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.