Old Sarum

Old Sarum is an Iron Age hillfort just north of Salisbury, later adapted into a Norman motte and bailey castle which contained Salisbury’s first cathedral. Salisbury, only a few miles from Stonehenge, has long been considered one of Britain’s most special spiritual places and this stretches back far into prehistory.

The outer bank of the fort.

The fort is on a natural hill which has commanding views over the Avon valley and surrounding area, and draws the eye from miles around. It was an ideal spot for an Iron Age statement of command and power.

The Iron Age ditch and two banks, which enclose an area around 400m diameter, were cleared and redug in Norman times, the reason for their incredible preservation. A visit is recommended just to see how the vast ditches of places such as Avebury and many other hillforts would have looked before thousands of years of erosion and infilling. Standing on the bank and looking into the thirty-metre deep ditch is a vertigo-inducing experience to say the least. It was about more than simple defence. It was a statement of power.

Old Sarum’s ditch. The very small sheep gives an indication of scale. 

Ironically, little more is known of the early site. The Norman reconstruction which preserved the ditches removed everything else. The fort was first built around 400BC, and occupation continued into the Roman period, where it became known as Sorviodunum. Five Roman roads converge at Salisbury which illustrates the site’s importance. Some of these roads were in use long before the Romans arrived, and may even date back to the Neolithic period, which marks the earliest occupation of the site.

The view east from the bank. The Roman road leading towards London is visible.

Salisbury marks the confluence of five rivers, the Avon, Nadder, Bourne, Ebble and Wylye, which would make it a hugely important place in the time when rivers were the main mode of transport and also the most important landmarks when travelling across a land devoid of manmade features. This is likely a big factor in Sarum’s continuing practical and spiritual importance.

The confluence of the Avon and the Nadder.

Sarum was captured from the British by the Saxons and then abandoned until invading Vikings forced its reoccupation. Saxon mercenaries who guarded the junction of the Roman roads lived and were buried nearby, and other rich Saxon burials were found close to the foot of the fort, including that of a sixth-century woman who was buried with elaborate grave goods including a purse ring made of elephant ivory, blue glass beads and a copper brooch. This high-status woman, who had trade links stretching as far as Africa, illustrates the continuing importance of this district, two thousand years after Wessex had become the richest land in Britain.

It is from this period that the name derives. Sarum is an adaptation of Seresberie, a late Saxon-period burgh and Royal Mint. This later evolved into Salisbury. The prefix Sar or Sear is probably a pre-Saxon personal name.

The Medieval castle, cathedral and town.

The fortified town of Old Sarum and its cathedral were later moved south to New Sarum, or Salisbury town, and the ancient site was abandoned to the wilderness.

The view south towards Salisbury. The new cathedral is visible.

The Thornborough Henges

The southeast entrance of the central henge.

The Thornborough Henges, just north of Ripon in Yorkshire, are thought to be a part of a ritual landscape once as important as Stonehenge.

The three large henges, each 240m in diameter, were built as a single concept around 2800BC. They form a slightly offset line which has been suggested to represent the stars of Orion’s Belt. This feature has also been proposed for the three stone circles in Orkney and the three pyramids of Giza.

The three henges, showing their arrangement akin to Orion’s Belt. (Tony Newbould, Wikicommons).

The southern henge is now almost entirely destroyed. The central henge comprises an outer bank, surviving to three metres high in places, then a wide berm and an inner ditch with two causeways, now barely visible. The inner area, which has the feel of an inner sanctum and was perhaps screened with timber, comprises around half the area of the henge. The two entrances align with the midwinter sunrise and the midsummer sunset.

The ditch and causeway of the northern henge.

The northern henge, which is now covered with trees, is the best preserved. Like the other henges, it comprises an outer bank with an inner berm around 15 metres in diameter, then a ditch surviving to around four metres deep. This ditch is perfectly dry, even in the wettest periods, so presumably was never intended to contain water. Perhaps these ditches were a statement of partition, segregating the innermost area of the henge where only a select few were permitted, from the outer area where all people could congregate.

The entrances of this henge again align with the midwinter sunrise and the midsummer sunset, and the central henge lies in their direct view. The northern entrance opens out onto the gentle slope of the hillside which soon disappears from view. This seems to emphasise that this is the end of the monument.

The bank and inner berm of the northern henge.

Thornborough was important long before the henges were built. Two cursuses, a little-understood type of monument of which the most famous is at Stonehenge, lie nearby and predate the henges by perhaps a thousand years. One passes by the north henge, and the second passes beneath the central henge and continues towards the river. It is suggested they are a commemoration of an ancient processional way.

The central henge, looking towards the northern henge in the distant trees.

The henges are on a fairly flat hilltop where they would have been prominent from a wide area. They are a few hundred metres from the River Ure, one of two important rivers in Yorkshire which were a focus for ritual monuments, on slightly higher ground so as to be safe from flood risk. On the horizon to the east is the scarp of the North Yorkshire Moors, and the henges, once coated in brilliant white gypsum, would have been clearly visible from this high ground. And it is from this point that their arrangement, reflecting Orion’s Belt, would have been noticeable.

The River Ure near Thornborough

Thornborough is on one of the major ancient routeways from the Midlands to the North, and also to the East to the Vale of Pickering. This is the point where the land changes from the vast flat plain of York to the hills of the Yorkshire Dales. Another reason for choosing this site is the band of underlying gypsum in the area, especially prone to forming huge sinkholes without warning which can on occasion swallow houses. This dangerous and unpredictable phenomenon, perhaps associated with openings to the chthonic otherworld, is likely a reason for the henges’ location.

A sinkhole in a limestone area. (Peter Dean, Wikicommons).

Amesbury

Amesbury is the nearest town to Stonehenge, and was itself once a key part of the Stonehenge landscape. The River Avon, which formed part of the processional way between Durrington Walls and Stonehenge, flows through the town and was a focus for many of the elaborate Bronze Age burials in the area, as high-status people claimed a place in this most revered landscape.

Many of these graves are now lost forever under housing estates and gardens. Those which have been excavated give an inkling of the once richness of this area.

Merlin and Vortigern.

Pseudo-historian Geoffrey of Monmouth claimed that Stonehenge was built by Merlin, wizard, sorcerer or shaman. In another legend, Merlin advised the British leader Vortigern, who was building a castle on the site, that its continual collapse was due to two dragons who were buried beneath the site.

This legend, often thought to be invented by Geoffrey, may have an older origin. Amesbury derives from ‘Emrys’s burgh’ or settlement, and Emrys was a title commonly applied to Merlin. Amesbury, therefore, was known from Saxon times as ‘Merlin’s settlement’. Perhaps the ancient legend has a grain of truth.

The river at Ratfyn

The Avon runs through a steep gorge near Ratfyn, the northern part of Amesbury, and a series of square structures, comprising four wooden posts around five metres high, have been discovered. They may have been huge wooden platforms used for the exposure of bodies to be devoured by kites and crows before they were cremated. Pits nearby contain the bones of cattle, pig and dogs, perhaps the remains of funeral feasts.

The cliff top, hidden by the trees of the gorge.

The Amesbury Archer is the town’s most famous discovery. The adult man, who died between 2500-2280BC, had lived in the Stonehenge area but had spent his childhood in the Alps or Bavaria. He had then made the arduous journey of over a thousand miles to Britain. Genetic analysis shows his son was also buried nearby.

The man was buried with twelve arrows, two archer’s wrist-guards, five beakers, three copper daggers, a metalworking anvil and a pair of gold earrings or hair ornaments, making it one of the richest burials found in the area. His importance was immense. Perhaps he was one of the first people who travelled to Britain, bringing the new skills of metal-working which would eventually overturn Britain’s infrastructure in every way. Thousand-year-old monuments were sealed up, new ones were built, and a new spiritual way of life redefined people’s lives even as their practical lives changed forever. Perhaps this man was the instigator of it all.

The Amesbury Archer

The Bulford Stone

The Bulford Stone is another former standing stone which formed part of the vast Stonehenge ritual landscape. Like the Cuckoo Stone, it is a glacial erratic which was raised in its natural location, and like the Cuckoo Stone it has survived through chance. It has long fallen and was until recently believed to be a natural erratic, until excavation revealed its true importance.

The Bulford Stone is around two miles from Woodhenge and the Cuckoo Stone, which are visible to the west, and intriguingly is on the same alignment as these sites and the Stonehenge Cursus discussed last week. It seems this alignment of natural features stretches far further than was once thought.

The Bulford Stone, looking towards Woodhenge

Around the standing stone, which was raised at an unclear date, was once a Bronze Age round barrow which was positioned to incorporate the stone. The barrow contained three burials dating to 1900BC-1750BC.

They included an intriguing array of grave goods, including flint knives, arrows and antler tools for flaking flint; a piece of Cotswold limestone shaped very much like one of the Stonehenge sarsens, perhaps representing a microcosm of the stones’ spiritual power; a boar’s tusk pendant; and a piece of rock crystal which may have come from the Alps. These unique finds suggest high-status burials, perhaps of shamans. Rock crystal is commonly used for divination, healing and other spiritual purposes. Other high-status burials nearby, such as the Amesbury Archer, had come from the Alps region, an arduous journey 4000 years ago and one which conveyed considerable prestige.

The Bulford Stone, looking east towards Beacon Hill

While the Cuckoo Stone stands in rough grassland, the Bulford Stone is in the middle of an agricultural field, and for hundreds of years farmers and machinery have had to dodge around it. Most large boulders which were in the way were simply removed, the reason for the huge loss of standing stones over the past few centuries. Why did the Bulford Stone, until recently believed to be a natural erratic with no significance, not suffer the same fate? Perhaps the spirits of the shamans who were buried at its foot continue to guard their ancient ward.

The Cuckoo Stone

The Cuckoo Stone is a fairly modest standing stone around a mile from Stonehenge. The sarsen is one of many which once littered the landscape, left here long ago by glacial action, and the stone was simply raised in its original, natural location. It has long since fallen again. 

A pit near the stone contained cattle bone, flint, pottery and an antler pick, perhaps the tools used to raise the stone and the subsequent feast to consecrate it. The pick dates to 2900BC, the earliest phase of Stonehenge which at this point comprised a circle of bluestones but none of the huge sarsens.

Bronze Age burial urn from the Stonehenge area.

The Cuckoo Stone remained a revered site for the next three thousand years. Several Bronze Age cremation urns were interred around the stone, with dates ranging from 2000BC to 1260BC. Much later still, a Roman-era village with large farms and a wide spread of fields grew up around the stone, and burials from this period were inserted into a Bronze Age barrow a short distance away near Woodhenge. Almost certainly this village was the home of people whose ancestry stretched back to the Neolithic and Bronze Age inhabitants of the area, despite their adaptation of Roman ways in the early centuries CE, and they were successors to the ancient traditions of the still-sacred Stonehenge landscape.

The Cuckoo Stone looking towards Woodhenge

Why was the Cuckoo Stone so important? It lies on gently sloping grassland on the eastern edge of Salisbury Plain, with wide views in all directions but the west, where Stonehenge itself is hidden by the slope. The stone is on the same alignment as the Stonehenge Cursus, an enigmatic ditched enclosure 3km long and 100m wide, which seems to commemorate an ancient routeway. This route, and perhaps the cursus if it had been continued, would have incorporated the Cuckoo Stone, at the time recumbent but eventually raised, and continued to Woodhenge a few hundred metres to the east.

We will probably never know the reason for the importance of this alignment of natural features, but they remained respected in people’s memories as the Neolithic was succeeded by the Bronze Age, as Celts and then Romans swept across Britain and the country’s way of life changed beyond recognition, again and again. Eventually the Cuckoo Stone succumbed and became a mere rock in a field, but thanks to recent archaeology, its importance has been rediscovered.

The Burton Dassett Hills

The Burton Dassett Hills in Warwickshire lie just north of the Edgehill ridge, along the course of an ancient routeway which passes sites such as the Rollright Stones, and are associated with a range of strange phenomena.

The hills are a beautiful place with wide views across the countryside in all directions, and have a particularly powerful atmosphere which most visitors consciously or unconsciously sense and draws them back over and again. Ley hunters attest to a powerful current of earth energy flowing through the area.

The view from Bonfire Hill

The hills have long been associated with fiery apparitions, once identified as angels or saints, and in more scientific times as geoplasma or earthlights, which appear as person-sized orbs or columns of light in darkness or as misty clouds in daylight. These apparitions float across the ground, spiral into the sky, and can disturbingly set fire to wooden buildings. Their appearance clusters around periods of heavy rain, and scientists believe the ironstone bedrock combined with underground flowing water creates the phenomena.

Burton Dassett Holy Well

The hills in Roman times were known as the Phoenix Hills, a legendary bird born of fire, which perhaps links to their eerie apparitions. The northernmost hill, Bonfire Hill, was the site of Twelfth Night bonfires in the Middle Ages and was perhaps used as a beacon site long into pre-Christian times. Surprisingly, there are no remains of any prehistoric settlement or ritual sites on the hills, although it certainly seems as if the hills were of special significance.

Some of the stone carvings in the church

A holy well – where an orb of geoplasma once appeared and set light to a gatepost – and a Medieval church known as the ‘cathedral in the hills’ stand beside the ancient route to the hills. The church is popularly described as an especially powerful location, and its pillars are adorned with intriguing carvings including a green man, a winged beast with a human face, a fighting dragon and lion, and other more ordinary animals. Some people would link them to the hills’ tradition of fiery apparitions, but their explanation remains a mystery.  

Woodhenge

Woodhenge looking from the entrance. The remains of the ditch are visible.

Woodhenge was a timber monument built on Salisbury Plain and a key part of the Stonehenge complex. Nothing now remains except concrete markers denoting the wooden posts. It has no alignment or view of Stonehenge itself, but it lies around half a mile from the Stonehenge Cursus, following the same alignment, suggesting the two monuments were (or were to have been?) linked. It also overlooks the vast henge of Durrington Walls and would have been clearly visible beyond the henge banks.

Woodhenge is on the edge of a prominent ledge of the plain, which drops away to the south and east and has far-reaching views. It would also have been clearly visible dominating the high horizon. It comprised six concentric circles of timber posts, reminiscent of the timber circles in Durrington Walls itself. The posts, ranging from fairly modest trees to substantial mature trees, were raised then left to decay. The outer circle comprised small, closely placed posts; then two circles of increasingly larger posts; then three inner circles of smaller posts. The monument was enclosed by a circular ditch and bank with an entrance facing north-west, towards the midsummer sunset.

The Stonehenge tenon joints which may represent experience in timber-building.

Unlike stone-built monuments, it is impossible to know what Woodhenge looked like. The tree trunks may have been left with bark and perhaps branches, resembling an artificial forest or wilderness. They may have been stripped and decorated, or had ritual offerings pinned to them. They may have had horizontal lintels, rather like Stonehenge itself. One point supporting this is the rounded mortice-tenon joints on Stonehenge’s sarsens, added to stop the lintels slipping free. The weight of the stone, in hindsight, made this unnecessary, so were the builders using their experience of building timber-lintelled structures, where these precautions were essential? It may be that all these ideas were incorporated into the timber circles: perhaps a lintelled enclosure contained a microcosm of the forested wilderness which children feared and adults were forced to learn to master.

The Woodhenge posts date to around 2500BC, the time Stonehenge was radically restructured, but like many monuments Woodhenge had a much longer heritage, which began as veneration of a natural feature. Four standing stones once formed a three-sided cove in the southern part of the monument. These had been raised around a tree throw-hole: a huge mature tree had once stood here, perhaps long venerated by the local people, and when it fell the stones were raised to commemorate it. Pottery and flints placed in the hole date to around 3800BC, over a millennium before the timber circles were raised.

 

The cairn in the centre of Woodhenge

A child’s burial was found at the centre of the timber circles, its location now marked by a cairn. It is often stated that this was a sacrifice to consecrate the monument, but many archaeologists now refute this. The burial was probably in fact from the Bronze Age, long after the site had decayed into a mass of rotten stumps and fallen logs, and the skull damage, once attributed to an executioner’s axe, was probably simply damage from 4000 years in the ground.

Today Woodhenge is little known and little visited. Perhaps the concrete posts which are its sole survival tell us the message it was built to convey, five millennia ago. Even the most enduring of life will decay and vanish, and nobody will ever know it was there.