Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jkksz Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T13:03:54.130Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Towards a Reappraisal of Henge Monuments

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 February 2014

T. Clare*
Affiliation:
County Planning Department, Cumbria County Council, Kendal, Cumbria LA9 4RQ

Abstract

The definition and classification of ‘henges’ and ‘hengiform’ sites are reconsidered. A new classification is proposed based on the nature of the perimeter, the number of entrances, and a range of features within or concentric to the perimeter. It is suggested that there is no valid distinction between sites termed ‘henge’ or ‘hengiform’. The site, distribution and chronology of these sites are also considered. Some of the associated features have close parallels in earlier neolithic sites.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Prehistoric Society 1986

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Alcock, L., 1972. By South Cadbury, is that Camelot … Excavations at Cadbury Castle 1966–70.Google Scholar
Allcroft, A. H., 1908. Earthwork of England.Google Scholar
Ashbee, P., 1960. The Bronze Age Round Barrow in Britain.Google Scholar
Ashbee, P., 1970. The Earthen Long Barrow in Britain.Google Scholar
Atkinson, R. J. C., 1951. ‘The henge monuments of Great Britain’, in Atkinson, R. J. C., Piggott, S. and Sandars, N. K., Excavations at Dorchester, Oxon, 81107.Google Scholar
Barclay, G. J., 1983. ‘Sites of the third millennium bc to the first millennium ad at North Mains, Strathallan, Perthshire’, Proc. Soc. Antiq. Scotland 113, 122281.Google Scholar
Barclay, G. J., 1985. Balfarg Riding School: interim report.Google Scholar
Bedwin, O., 1981. ‘Excavations at the Neolithic enclosure on Bury Hill, Houghton, W. Sussex, 1979’, Proc. Prehist. Soc. 47, 6986.Google Scholar
Bousfield, P. and S., , 1953. ‘A notable Cornish henge monument’, Proc. W. Corn. Field Club n.s. 1(2), 3539.Google Scholar
Bradley, R. J. and Hart, C., 1983. ‘Prehistoric settlement in the Peak District during the third and second millennia bc: a preliminary analysis in the light of recent fieldwork’, Proc. Prehist. Soc. 49, 177–93.Google Scholar
Burenhult, G., 1980. The Archaeological Excavation at Carromore Co. Sligo, Ireland: Excavation Seasons 1977–70. Theses and Papers in North-European Archaeology 9. Institute of Archaeology, University of Stockholm.Google Scholar
Burgess, C., 1974. ‘The Bronze Age’, in Renfrew, 1974.Google Scholar
Burl, H. A. W., 1969, ‘Henges: internal structures and regional groups’, Archaeol. J. 126, 128.Google Scholar
Burl, H. A. W., 1974. ‘The recumbent stone circles of North East Scotland’, Proc. Soc. Antiq. Scotland 102 (1969–70), 5681.Google Scholar
Burl, H. A. W., 1976. The stone circles of the British Isles.Google Scholar
Case, H. J., 1969. ‘A ritual site in North-East Ireland’, in Daniel, and Kjaerum, 1969, 173–96.Google Scholar
Case, H. J. and Whittle, A. W. R., 1982. Settlement patterns in the Oxford region; excavations at the Abingdon causewayed enclosure and other sites. CBA Research Report 44.Google Scholar
Catherall, P. D., 1976. ‘Excavations at Litton Cheney, Dorset, 1974’, in Burgess, C. and Miket, R. (eds), Settlement and Economy in the Third and Second Millennia B.C., 81100. Brit. Archaeol. Rep. Brit. Ser. 33.Google Scholar
Clare, T., 1973. Aspects of the Stone Circles and Kindred Monuments of North-west England. Unpub. Univ. of Liverpool thesis, May 1973.Google Scholar
Clare, T., 1975. ‘Some Cumbrian stone circles in perspective’, Trans. Cumberland Westmorland Antiq. Archaeol. Soc. n.s. 75, 116.Google Scholar
Clare, T., 1979. ‘Rayset Pike long cairn in the Machell MSS’, Trans. Cumberland Westmorland Antiq. Archaeol. Soc. n.s. 79, 144–46.Google Scholar
Clark, J. G. D., 1936. ‘The timber monument of Arminghall and its affinities’, Proc. Prehist. Soc. 2, 151.Google Scholar
Collins, A. E. P. and Waterman, D. M., 1955. Millin Bay, A Late Neolithic Cairn in Co. Down.Google Scholar
Cunnington, B. H. and M. E., , 1929. Woodhenge.Google Scholar
Daniel, G. and Kjaerum, P. (eds), 1969. Megalithic Graves and Ritual. Papers presented at III Atlantic Colloquium, Moesgard, 1969.Google Scholar
Drewett, P., 1977. ‘The excavation of a Neolithic causewayed enclosure on Offham Hill, E. Sussex, 1976’, Proc. Prehist. Soc. 43, 201–42.Google Scholar
Elgee, F., 1930. Early Man in North-east Yorkshire.Google Scholar
Evans, E. E., 1953. Lyles Hill: A Late Neolithic site in County Antrim.Google Scholar
Foster, I. L. and Alcock, L. (eds), 1963. Culture and Environment: essays in honour of Sir Cyril Fox.Google Scholar
Grimes, W. F., 1963. ‘The stone circles and related monuments of Wales’, in Foster, and Alcock, 1963, 93152.Google Scholar
Hodgson, K. S., 1956. ‘Three unpublished collections of Bronze Age pottery — Netherhall, Garlands and Aglionby’, Trans. Cumberland Westmorland Antiq. Archaeol. Soc. n.s. 56, 617.Google Scholar
Kendrick, T. D., 1932. In Kendrick, T. D. and Hawkes, C. F. C., Archaeology in England and Wales 1914–1931.Google Scholar
Kinnes, I., 1976. ‘Monumental function in British Neolithic burial practices’, World Archaeol. 7, 1619.Google Scholar
Kinnes, I., 1979. Round barrows and ring ditches. Brit. Mus. Occ. Paper 7.Google Scholar
Liversage, G. D., 1960. ‘A Neolithic site at Townleyhall, Co. Louth’, J. Roy. Soc. Antiq. Ireland 90, 4960.Google Scholar
Lynch, F., 1979. ‘Ring cairns in Britain and Ireland; their design and purpose’, Ulster J. Archaeol. 42, 119.Google Scholar
Lynch, F., Waddell, J., Allen, D. and Grealey, S., 1974. ‘Brenig Valley Excavations 1973’, Denbigh. Hist. Trans. 23, 156.Google Scholar
Maier, R. A., 1962. ‘Fragen zu neolithischen Erdwerken Südbayerns’, Jahrb. Bayerischen Bodendenkmalpflege 1962, 521.Google Scholar
Manby, T. G., 1976. ‘Excavation of the Kilham long barrow, East Riding of Yorkshire’, Proc. Prehist. Soc. 42, 111–59.Google Scholar
McInnes, I. J., 1971. ‘Settlement in later Neolithic Britain’, in Simpson, 1971, 113–30.Google Scholar
Mercer, R. J., 1980a. Hambledon Hill: A Neolithic Landscape.Google Scholar
Mercer, R. J., 1980b. Archaeological Field Survey in Northern Scotland 1976–1979. Univ. Edinburgh Dept. of Archaeol. Occ. Paper 4.Google Scholar
Mercer, R. J., 1981. ‘The excavation of a late Neolithic henge-type enclosure at Balfarg, Markinch, Fife, Scotland’, Proc. Soc. Antiq. Scotland 111, 63171.Google Scholar
Miket, R., 1976. ‘The evidence for neolithic activity in the Milfield Basin, Northumberland’, in Burgess, C. and Miket, R. (eds), Settlement and Economy in the Third and Second Millennia B.C., 113–47. Brit. Archaeol. Rep. Brit. Ser. 33.Google Scholar
Miket, R., 1983. ‘Excavations at Whitton Hill, Northumberland, 1982 and 1983’, Univ. Durham and Univ. Newcastle Archaeol. Reports for 1983.Google Scholar
Morgan, F. de M., 1959. ‘The excavation of a long barrow at Nutbane, Hants.’, Proc. Prehist. Soc. 35, 1551.Google Scholar
O'Kelly, M. J., 1982. Newgrange: archaeology, art and legend.Google Scholar
Ó Nualláin, S., 1984. ‘A survey of stone circles in Cork and Kerry’, Proc. Roy. Irish Acad. 84c, 177.Google Scholar
Ó Ríordáin, S. P., 1979. Antiquities of the Irish Countryside, 5th ed.Google Scholar
Ó Ríordáin, S. P. and Daniel, G. E., 1964. Newgrange and the Bend of the Boyne.Google Scholar
Peterson, F. F., 1981. The Excavation of a Bronze Age cemetery on Knighton Heath, Dorset. Brit. Archaeol. Rep. Brit. Ser. 98.Google Scholar
Piggott, S., 1962. The West Kennet Long Barrow.Google Scholar
Piggott, S., 19711972. ‘Excavation of the Dalladies long barrow, Fettercairn, Kincardineshire’, Proc. Soc. Antiq. Scotland 104, 2347.Google Scholar
Piggott, S. and Powell, T. G. E., 1949. ‘The excavation of three Neolithic Chambered Tombs in Galloway 1949’, Proc. Soc. Antiq. Scotland 83 (1948–49), 103–61.Google Scholar
Pitt-Rivers, A., 1898. Excavations in Cranborne Chase, Vol. IV.Google Scholar
Priddy, D. and Buckley, D. G., 1987. ‘An assessment of excavated enclosures in Essex together with a selection of crop-mark sites’, East Anglian Archaeol. 33.Google Scholar
Renfrew, C., 1974. British Prehistory: a new outline.Google Scholar
Renfrew, C., 1979. Investigations in Orkney.Google Scholar
Ritchie, G. N. and MacLaren, A., 1972. ‘Ring Cairns and related monuments in Scotland’, Scot. Archaeol. Forum 4, 130.Google Scholar
Roder, J., 1948. ‘Der Goloring: Ein eisenzeitliches Heiligtum vom Henge-charakter im Koberner Wald’, Bonner Jahrb. 148, 81132.Google Scholar
St. George Gray, H., 1903. ‘Excavations at Arbor Low’, Archaeologia 58, 461–98.Google Scholar
Smith, I. F., 1965. Windmill Hill and Avebury. Excavations by Alexander Keiller 1925–1939.Google Scholar
Stone, J. F. S., 1958. Wessex before the Celts.Google Scholar
Topping, P., 1979.‘Excavations of the Cursus at Scorton, N. Yorks.’, Univ. Durham and Univ. Newcastle Archaeol. Reports for 1978.Google Scholar
Vatcher, F. de M., 1960. ‘The excavation of the long mortuary enclosure on Normanton Down, Wilts.’, Proc. Prehist. Soc. 26, 160–73.Google Scholar
Vyner, B., 1984. ‘The excavation of a neolithic cairn at Street House, Loftus, Cleveland’, Proc. Prehist. Soc. 50, 151–96.Google Scholar
Wainwright, G. J., 1971. Durrington Walls 1966–1968.Google Scholar
Wainwright, G. J., 1979. Mount Pleasant, Dorset: Excavations 1970–81.Google Scholar
Waterman, D. M., 1970. ‘Navan Fort’, Current Archaeol. 11, 304–08.Google Scholar
Webster, G. and Hobley, B., 1964. ‘Aerial reconnaissance over the Warwickshire Avon’, Archaeol. J. 121, 122.Google Scholar
Whittle, A., 1977. ‘Earlier Neolithic enclosures in north-west Europe’, Proc. Prehist. Soc. 43, 329–48.Google Scholar