Prehistoric

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This listings directory of over 950 entries is being phased out.
It now excludes places and things of interest in the North of England, including Yorkshire.
These can be found in ABAB’s Places.
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HAMPSTEAD TUMULUS

A mound, which is known as Boadicea's Burial Mound, between Parliament Hill and Kenwood House, west of Highgate Ponds. No one knows what it is - theories include the remains of a windmill, a folly - or it could be a genuine Neolithic or Iron Age burial. We're giving it the benefit of the doubt.

Post code is approximate. Pedestrian access only.

Region/Nation
Location/Address
Hampstead Heath
County
London
Post Code
NW3 2SP
Main Historic Period
Prehistory
Link to featured article
Useful Website Address
Primary Management
Local Authority
JURASSIC COAST

England’s Jurassic Coast encompasses 95 miles of lovely coastline from Exmouth in East Devon to Old Harry Rocks in Studland Bay in Dorset. It actually covers three geological time periods - the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous which together make up the Mesozoic Era, from around 250 to 65 million years ago. The area's significant fossil sites and model coastal geomorphologic features have contributed to the study of earth sciences for over 300 years. The coast includes some wonderful geological features, like Durdle Door and Chesil Beach, dramatic views and seaside towns and resorts such as Bournemouth, Poole, Swanage, Lyme Regis and West Bay. Walk, bathe and hunt for fossils.

Managed by the Jurassic Coast Trust

Region/Nation
Location/Address
Coast between Exmouth and Studland Bay
County
Dorset
Main Historic Period
Prehistory
Tip/Nearby
Towns of Poole, Swanage, West Bay, Lyme Regis, Exmouth.
Primary Management
Other
MAIDEN CASTLE

Enormous - according to English Heritage equivalent to 50 football pitches - Iron Age hillfort with multiple and complex ramparts and ditches. This was ancient Dorchester! Here, Vespasian's highly trained Roman troops overcame the British defenders, the Durotriges tribe, one of whom ended up with a ballista in his spine. There's not much to see, but quite a lot to marvel and wonder at.

Photo by Major George Allen (1891–1940) (Ashmolean Museum) public domain via Wikimedia Commons

Region/Nation
Location/Address
Winterborne Monkton
Dorchester
County
Dorset
Post Code
DT2 9EY
Main Historic Period
Prehistory
Tip/Nearby
Max Gate, Dorchester
Primary Management
English Heritage
MITCHELL’S FOLD Stone Circle

Mitchell’s Fold Stone Circle is just inside the English border with Wales, a 3,000-year-old relic of the Bronze Age, constructed of dolerite rock from Stapeley Hill nearby. There are 15 stones arranged in a rough circle, with a couple more prominent than others. It is thought there were once 30 stones, that the tallest had a twin, making a doorway, and that there was a central stone.

It is a relatively lonely spot, but with wonderful views west into Wales. There are other prehistoric remains nearby, including the Hoarstones Circle and a Bronze Age axe factory at Cwm Mawr.

By car, park at the side of a rough lane off the corner of the road and walk a few hundred yards to the monument.

Post Code is very approximate. Use a map.

Location/Address
Off minor road between White Grit and Priest Weston
County
Shropshire
Post Code
SY15 6DE
Main Historic Period
Prehistory
Tip/Nearby
Montgomery, Welshpool, Church Stretton
Primary Management
English Heritage
NINE LADIES Stone Circle

Nine Ladies stone circle is probably the best known of many Bronze Age monuments on Derbyshire’s Stanton Moor and one of four stone circles on the moor. The others - Stanton Moor I, III and IV - are largely overgrown and hard to pick out. Nine Ladies is roughly in the centre of the moor, a low circle of worn gritstone blocks about 3 feet (1 metre) above ground. The circle is approximately 36 feet (11 metres) in diameter. According to legend, the stones are nine ladies, petrified for dancing on the Sabbath. A short distance away is the King’s Stone, which in life was the fiddler. Nine Ladies stone circle is some 4000 years old and originally there were ten stones. It is speculated that it was used for rituals and ceremonies, a fairly meaningless observation when you think about it, because it must have been used for something. The reality is that we simply do not know.

There is no postcode and the postcode given by English Heritage is misleading. There are various ways to Nine Ladies and the address here is for guidance only. Find a lay-by on the east side of Birchover Road, where there is an information board. A short distance through some woods is the Cork Stone. Nine Ladies is to the north east; take a map.

Region/Nation
Location/Address
Birchover Road
between Birchover and Stanton in Peak
West of the A6
County
Derbyshire
Post Code
DE4 2BN
Main Historic Period
Prehistory
Useful Website Address
Tip/Nearby
Stanton Moor, Cork Stone. Matlock and Bakewell.
Primary Management
National Park
OLD WINCHESTER HILL

Late Neolithic or early Bronze Age burial barrows lie on the top of Old Winchester Hill, itself the site of a later Iron Age hillfort settlement.  The barrows are about 3800 years old and. Covered in heaped chalk, would have been quite outstanding in their day.  There are four inside the fort, seven outside the west gate and possibly three more incorporated into the southern rampart.  The hillfort was built about 2500 years ago, a univallate fort with a single, very steep, ditch and embankment, entrances on the east and west, and roundhouses and stores inside with a wooden palisade around the whole.  The views are magnificent – this was a perfect location for a hillfort. On a clear day, the Isle of Wight can be seen.

Old Winchester Hill is also a 150-acre national reserve, home to many species of plants and wildlife.  Spot the small yew wood – great for hide and seek.

Region/Nation
Location/Address
Droxford Road
East Meon
County
Hampshire
Post Code
GU32 1HN
Main Historic Period
Prehistory
Primary Management
National Park
PENTRE IFAN

Remains of a communal tomb constructed maybe around 3,500 BC. The remaining stones form a doorway with a capstone on top some 17 feet (5.1 metres) long and weighing an estimated 16 tonnes. It is thought the original structure would have been about 120 feet (36 metres) long. Bits of pottery and worked flint have been found on site, but no human remains have been found.

Region/Nation
Location/Address
South east of Newport on a (very) minor road between the A487 and B4329.
County
Pembrokeshire
Post Code
SA41 3TZ
Main Historic Period
Prehistory
Link to featured article
Primary Management
Cadw
The Rollright Stones

The Rollrights is a complex of three megalithic monuments on the borders of Oxfordshire and Warwickshire, close to the Cotswolds. hills. The complex consists of a stone circle (The King's Men), about 100 feet in diameter, a dolmen (burial chamber - the Whispering Knights) and a single standing stone (The King Stone). The Whispering Knights dolmen dates from the early Neolithic period, c3,800-3,500 BC, the King's Men stone circle is late Neolithic, c2,500 BC; and the King Stone is Bronze Age, c1,500 BC. Close to the King's stone is a mound, once called the Archdruid's Barrow and people used to gather and dance nearby on Midsummer Eve. There are so many legends associate with these ancient stones. All were once humans, it is said, a king and his army - turned to stone by a witch. It is also meant to be impossible to count the stones in the stone circle.  There is limited parking in a lay-by.

Region/Nation
Location/Address
Unclassified Road
Between Chipping Norton and Long Compton
County
Oxfordshire
Post Code
OX7 5QB
Main Historic Period
Prehistory
Useful Website Address
Tip/Nearby
The Cotswolds, Blenheim Palace
Primary Management
Other
SAXONBURY Hillfort and Folly

Saxonbury is a much eroded and worn univallate hillfort dating from the late Bronze/early Iron Age, with a curious 19th century folly in the centre. The hillfort is located in woodland in the Weald of East Sussex a short distance from the A267, where there is a convenient layby just north of Danegate. The earthworks are clearly visible and excavations in the last century suggested that iron might have been produced there. They also revealed evidence of an earlier prehistoric enclosure. The fort is on the Eridge Park Estate owned by the Nevill family since 1448 and the folly was built by Henry Nevill, 2nd Earl of Abergavenny in 1828. I think it looks like a rocket. A telecoms company currently uses it as a communications mast. It would be interesting to know the etymolgy of 'Saxonbury' - it suggests a defended place in later times?

Region/Nation
Location/Address
Rotherfield
County
East Sussex
Post Code
TN6 3PG
Main Historic Period
Prehistory
Useful Website Address
Tip/Nearby
Eridge Park, Scotney Castle
Primary Management
Private - open to the public
Scottish Crannog Centre

Crannogs were circular dwellings built in and above water. They were in use as recently as the 17th century but date back to around 3,000 BC and their remains have been found throughout Scotland and Ireland. The remains of more than 20 have been found in Loch Tay - the reason for the concentration is unknown, though it was possibly a trade route. The Scottish Crannog Centre is a museum that includes a reconstructed crannog based on one excavated nearby and dating from 2,500 BC. It consists of a roundhouse supported on 168 timber piles driven into the loch bed and connected to the shore by means of a 20 metre long timber bridge. As well as the crannog and the museum, there are reconstructions and displays showing how crannog dwellers lived and worked.

The reconstructed roundhouse at the Scottish Crannog Centre was destroyed by fire in June 2021. At time of writing it is determined that the roundhouse will be rebuilt. Check their website for details.

Region/Nation
Location/Address
Loch Tay
Kenmore
Nr Aberfeldy
County
Perthshire
Post Code
PH15 2HY
Main Historic Period
Prehistory
Useful Website Address
Tip/Nearby
Aberfeldy
Primary Management
Other

If your favourite attraction is not listed yet, and you have a good quality digital photograph of it that you are able to freely send, please get in touch

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