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Wayland's Smithy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

R. J. C. Atkinson
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Extract

The chambered long barrow known as Wayland's Smithy lies a little south of the crest of the Berkshire Downs, about a mile west of the Uffington White Horse, within an oval plantation of beech trees. The excavation here described was carried out during II weeks in 1962 and 1963 under the direction of Professor Stuart Piggott and the writer. The barrow has now been restored to its appearance in antiquity, so far as the surviving features allow.

Before excavation, the site appeared as a long low mound, much flattened by cultivation and erosion, with a length of about 200ft. and a maximum height of about 4ft. above the surrounding surface. At the south end were the ruined remains of a cruciform burial-chamber constructed of large sarsen slabs, in front of which was a line of four large fallen stones, evidently parts of a massive fayade similar to that of the West Kennet long barrow. To the east, a row of four smaller sarsens, still upright, marked the line of the kerb of slabs which had once delimited the mound. A sketch made by John Aubrey in the mid-17th century shows that apart from the presence then of additional visible kerb-stones the appearance of the site has altered little in the last 300 years.

Type
Research Article
Information
Antiquity , Volume 39 , Issue 154 , June 1965 , pp. 126 - 133
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd 1965

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References

Notes

[1] O.S. One Inch sheet 158, SU 281854. The site may be approached by car from the Icknield Way (B.4507) at the point 294872. The Ridgeway is impassable in wet weather.

[2] Our thanks are due especially to Mr P. K. Baillie-Reynolds, Mr A. J. Taylor, Mr T. A. Bailey and Mr W. C. Abbott.

[3] Piggott, S., The West Kennet Long Barrow, 1962 Google Scholar, fig. 7 and pl. xii a.

[4] John Aubrey, Monumenta Britannica, II, f. 62 r. Bodleian Library, MS Top. Gen. c.25.

[5] Aubrey’s sketch does not provide reliable evidence for the positions of individual stones visible in his day; but there is no reason to doubt that around the northern part of the barrow there were a number which no longer survive.

[6] Antiquaries Journal, I, 1921, 183–98. The report, by C. R. Peers and R. A. Smith, is known to have been written from memory, owing to the loss of the excavation notes. For additional unpublished information I am very much indebted to the late The Rev. Charles Overy, who was responsible for the plans and photographs in 1920, and to Dr G. W. B. Huntingford, who witnessed the excavation as a schoolboy and made a number of invaluable sketches.

[7] Grinsell, L. V., The Archaeology of Wessex, 1958Google Scholar, 32 and fig. 4.

[8] Antiquaries Journal, loc. cit., figs. 3 and 4, on the line A—A.

[9] It was noticeable also that the soil buried beneath both barrows was full of chalk crumbs, and had obviously been disturbed by cultivation. Pollen analyses kindly carried out by Professor G. W. Dimbleby gave negative results, owing to the alkalinity of the soil.

[10] Dr Don Brothwell has kindly consented to examine the human remains. His report may well modify the conclusions given here.

[11] Antiquity, 1958, 106–11. Mr Ashbee agrees that his mortuary structure should be thus reinterpreted ; and I am most grateful to him for references to possible examples elsewhere.

[12] P.P.S., XXIX, 1963, 173–205.

[13] Five suitable stones, not found in situ, have now been restored in this area to indicate the original continuity of the kerb.

[14] S. Piggott, op. cit., fig. 4.

[15] S. Piggott, op. cit., 23–4.

[16] The determination was made by Isotopes Inc. of New Jersey, U.S.A., at a cost of $175.00 (about £62). The charge made by this commercial laboratory may be compared, without comment, with that of the National Physical Laboratory (£100).

[17] This pottery can be paralleled generically at All Cannings Cross, and more specifically at the neighbouring hill-forts of Berks, Rams Hill. (Antiquaries Journal, XX, 1940, 474 Google Scholar, fig. 5) and Wilts, Liddington Castle. (Wilts. Arch. Mag., XXXVIII, 1914, 583–4 Google Scholar, pls. i and ii).

[18] Antiquaries Journal, I, 1921, 191.

[19] Close parallels for both objects occur in the Parc-y-meirch hoard from Denbighshire (Archaeo- logia Cambrensis, XCVI, 1941, 1–10, nos. 19 and 23). The two types in combination clearly form the prototype for the ‘bugle-shaped objects’ of the ‘Carp’s Tongue Sword Complex’ ( Evans, J., Ancient Bronze Implements, 1881 Google Scholar, figs. 493–5); for some a British rather than a west French origin may now be assumed.

[20] Air-photographs taken by Mr J. J. Wymer during the excavation.

[21] Mrs Diana Woolner has pointed out, however, that in the adjacent parish of Uffington strip-cultivation of the northern margin of the downs was in progress as late as the 18th century; and in personal discussion she has argued that the denudation of the barrow took place mainly at this date or slightly earlier.