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Durrington Walls

Durrington, Wiltshire

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"A part of the World Heritage Site - Stonehenge, Avebury and Associated Sites"

Durringtom Walls is the remains of a very large henge (bank and ditch) next to Woodhenge     and not far from Stonehenge, in Wiltshire. Two roads run through it and the affects of ploughing and erosion through the centuries has considerably impacted on its condition. It is a part of the World Heritage Site collection based around Stonehenge and Avebury.

While the henge at Avebury is large, a village at one time being built within it, the Durrington Walls henge is said to have been larger, and the largest known henge in Britain.

It was 500m across, the ditch was originally 5.5 metres deep, 7 metres wide at its bottom, and 18 metres wide at the top. The bank is in some areas 30 metres wide. There were at least two entrances at the south east and north west, and maybe two more at the south and north east. Within the henge was a number of smaller enclosures and timber circles.

There were a number of ancient timber houses, some say 7 within the henge. Some extending under the bank on the south east, suggesting the buildings predate the henge. From the density of the houses and readings taken above ground it is thought that a lot more houses were in this area.

It is clearly visible, I visited Woodhenge at the time unaware of the existence of Durrington Walls and spotted and photographed from Woodhenge what was clearly a large manmade earth works, camp or a henge structure. What you can see today is the inner slope of the bank and the outer slope of the internal ditch. This now appears as a ridge surrounding a central basin. On the eastern side the separate ditch and bank are much easier to see, although badly eroded by ploughing.

Being 2 miles NE of Stonehenge and constructed around the same time, some believe it was the settlement for the people who used or built Stonehenge, while others point to the number of timber circles and feel it may have had a use of its own connected with these, or that the larger site may have been connected.

Through it are two roads an old toll road and a modern road built in 1967, there have at times been buildings on this site, including military barracks on the NE end and houses are constructed on the western bank. The land to the west of the old toll road is owned by the National Trust and free access is available.


Further information Grid

 

Location:

Durrington Walls, Durrington, Wiltshire

Ceremonial County: Wiltshire

Grid Reference:

SU150438 

Map Link:

Multimap 

Aerial photo: Multimap

Route(s):

 

Best Times to Visit:

 

E-mail:

 

Website:

English Heritage

Wikipedia - NT stonehenge landscape property

Other useful websites:

Wiki

Megalithic

Wikipedia - Stone Henge, Avebury and associated sites

Time Team programme

Digital digging

Nearby Locations:

Stonehenge, Wiltshire

Woodhenge, Wiltshire  

Avebury

Silbury Hill, nr Avebury   

West Kennet Long Barrow    WKLB Gallery

The Sanctuary, nr Avebury

Other Relevant pages: World Heritage Sites in the UK

World Heritage Sites     

World Heritage Sites - Further Information

 

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Planning Grid

Location:

Durrington Walls, Durrington, Wiltshire

Grid Reference:

SU150438 

Getting there:

Located just south on the A345 off the junction with the A3028 at Durrington.

Access:

Take road off A345 to Woodhenge visible from Woodhenge and track opposite Woodhenge goes in to area.

Parking:

Road side at Woodhenge

Facilities:

none

Things To Do, See and Photograph:

 

What to take:

 

Nature highlights:

 

Address:

 

Postcode:

 

Telephone:

 

Opening times:

Appears to be accessible all the time

Charges:

None

Photo Restrictions:

None

Other Restrictions:  
Special Needs Access:  
Special Needs Facilities:  
Children Facilities:  
Dogs Allowed:  

Please let us know any other information that we can add to the Further information and Planning Grids or page and any errors that you discover. Before making a long trip to any location it is always wise to double check the current information, websites like magazines may be correct at the time the information is written, but things change and it is of course impossible to double check all entries on a regular basis. If you have any good photographs that you feel would improve the illustration of this page then please let us have copies. In referring to this page it is helpful if you quote both the Page Ref and Topic or Section references from the Grid below. To print the planning grid select it then right click and print the selected area.

Please submit information on locations you discover so that this system continues to grow.

 


By: Keith Park  Section: Stone Circles Section Key:
Page Ref: Durrington_walls Topic: Stone Circles Last Updated: 07/2009

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