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<< Our Photo Pages >> Cotton Henge - Henge in England in Northamptonshire

Submitted by coldrum on Sunday, 29 April 2018  Page Views: 12671

Neolithic and Bronze AgeSite Name: Cotton Henge
Country: England County: Northamptonshire Type: Henge
 Nearest Village: Raunds
Map Ref: SP983725
Latitude: 52.341779N  Longitude: 0.558523W
Condition:
5Perfect
4Almost Perfect
3Reasonable but with some damage
2Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site
1Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks
0No data.
-1Completely destroyed
1 Ambience:
5Superb
4Good
3Ordinary
2Not Good
1Awful
0No data.
no data Access:
5Can be driven to, probably with disabled access
4Short walk on a footpath
3Requiring a bit more of a walk
2A long walk
1In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find
0No data.
no data Accuracy:
5co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates
4co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map
3co-ordinates scaled from a bad map
2co-ordinates of the nearest village
1co-ordinates of the nearest town
0no data
4

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Antheabarnes visited on 1st Jan 0000 unable to get near enough to see due to building work.

Cotton Henge
Cotton Henge submitted by dodomad : Cotton Henge - due to be Bulldozed Click yellow link at left for more details (Vote or comment on this photo)
Henge monument in Northamptonshire comprising two sub-circular ditches, the outer measuring between 70 and 75 metres across, the inner circuit is about 21 metres in diameter.

More information on the Pastscape site:

Note: ITV News: Growing anger over new development on top of prehistoric monument. Cotton Henge due to be bulldozed, being excavated as 'rescue archaeology'. This henge has been known about for 30 years - but it's not scheduled. How is this allowed to happen?
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Cotton Henge
Cotton Henge submitted by Nelliegooner : Henge being obliterated July 2018 (Vote or comment on this photo)

Cotton Henge
Cotton Henge submitted by Nelliegooner : Henge being destroyed July 2018 (1 comment - Vote or comment on this photo)

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Nearby Images from Geograph Britain and Ireland:
SP9772 : A45 southbound by Alex McGregor
by Alex McGregor
©2021(licence)
SP9773 : A45 southbound by Alex McGregor
by Alex McGregor
©2021(licence)
SP9772 : Stanwick Lakes Country Park by Will Lovell
by Will Lovell
©2006(licence)
SP9872 : Orchard Road, Raunds by JThomas
by JThomas
©2012(licence)
SP9872 : Bungalow on Orchard Road, Raunds by JThomas
by JThomas
©2012(licence)

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Nearby sites listing. In the following links * = Image available
 728m W 270° West Cotton Monument Complex Long Barrow (SP97577248)
 1.4km SW 232° Raunds Ring Ditch Misc. Earthwork (SP972716)
 1.9km WSW 239° Stanwick Lakes* Museum (SP96707150)
 2.0km W 271° Irthlingborough and Stanwick Barrows* Barrow Cemetery (SP963725)
 2.3km SW 231° Redlands Farm Long Barrow Long Barrow (SP965710)
 4.1km NNW 329° Three Hills Barrows, Woodford* Barrow Cemetery (SP961760)
 6.7km W 266° Finedon Stone Marker Stone (SP9161871928)
 8.0km NNE 25° Titchmarch Cursus Cursus (TL016798)
 8.5km SE 128° Harrowick, Upper Dean Natural Stone / Erratic / Other Natural Feature (TL0507267416)
 13.2km ENE 78° Seat of Judgement - Leighton Bromswold* Marker Stone (TL112756)
 13.9km S 172° Felmersham Cursus Cursus (TL004588)
 15.4km SW 227° Grendon Cursus Cursus (SP87256174)
 15.8km SSW 192° Harrold Barrows* Barrow Cemetery (SP95245702)
 16.1km WSW 245° Mears Ashby Tumulus* Misc. Earthwork (SP839653)
 16.3km SE 143° Bolnhurst Earthwork Misc. Earthwork (TL084597)
 18.9km S 179° Holywell (Bedfordshire)* Holy Well or Sacred Spring (SP9907753646)
 19.7km NNW 332° Parliament Stone* Natural Stone / Erratic / Other Natural Feature (SP888898)
 20.6km SSW 193° Nell's Well* Holy Well or Sacred Spring (SP941523)
 21.0km SSE 158° Mowsbury Hill Hillfort (TL066532)
 21.9km ENE 71° Monk's Hole Barrow Round Barrow(s) (TL1896479957)
 22.0km E 93° Brampton Cursus Cursus (TL203716)
 22.1km E 94° Brampton Long Barrow (TL204715)
 22.4km SSW 213° Holy Well (Olney)* Holy Well or Sacred Spring (SP864535)
 22.7km S 171° Biddenham Bridge Holy Well* Holy Well or Sacred Spring (TL024502)
 22.7km ESE 107° Buckden C Cursus Cursus (TL202664)
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"Cotton Henge" | Login/Create an Account | 15 News and Comments
  
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Re: Cotton Henge by Nelliegooner on Sunday, 27 January 2019
(User Info | Send a Message)
The henge has now been completely destroyed with the whole henge area being excavated and back filled with imported material before being built upon. Gone for good!
[ Reply to This ]

Actual statement by Anonymous on Friday, 29 June 2018
From Oxford Archaeology;


https://oxfordarchaeology.com/news/787-excavation-of-cotton-henge-at-warth-park-northamptonshire
[ Reply to This ]

Re: Growing anger over new development on top of prehistoric monument by Anonymous on Thursday, 17 May 2018
Beggars Belief!

I am dumbfounded that this monument is to be destroyed. Is nothing sacred and safe from developers?
Absolutely unbelievable.
[ Reply to This ]

Re: Growing anger over new development on top of prehistoric monument by Anonymous on Thursday, 03 May 2018
I am seriously disturbed by the references that Cotton Henge is just two circular ditches. There were standing stones I saw the holes that would have received these stones and they were described to me by an archaeologist.

She stepped into one of these holes pointed to the straight short sides the sloping sides and trench at the bottom where the stones would have been placed. Behind this was the ditch and bank behind this. These holes have already been filled and there has been no reference to them in fact it has been stated that there never have been standing stones.

This has to be independently investigated

After all who ever pays the piper calls the tune!
[ Reply to This ]
    Re: Growing anger over new development on top of prehistoric monument by Anne T on Thursday, 03 May 2018
    (User Info | Send a Message)
    Hello, Anonymous. Sorry you're seriously disturbed about the reference to the two circular ditches. This is what the site is officially recorded as in Pastscape - if you click the link in the main text above, you'll get the official source information.
    I don't know if you can ask the archaeologist you were in touch with to provide us with more information, and perhaps contact Pastscape and/or the local Heritage and Environment Officer to provide them with an update so this could be checked and corrected.
    In the meantime, if anyone has any information about the standing stones and their placement, we'd be delighted to hear.
    It's so important to get information on each site correct. Thanks.
    [ Reply to This ]
    Re: Growing anger over new development on top of prehistoric monument by Anonymous on Friday, 29 June 2018
    They were just 2 ditches, no holes for stones.
    Members of the public were not allowed on site as it was an active construction site with moving plant. There was never an open day.
    [ Reply to This ]

Re: Growing anger over new development on top of prehistoric monument by Anonymous on Wednesday, 02 May 2018
There's an ENDC attitude that it ticks enough boxes if Roxhill / Segro / Howdens hire some archaeologists to do an investigation. While this might satisfy the requirements of the archaeological community, it totally ignores the interests of the local community and its heritage. Findings will end up as dusty documentation and artifacts on storage shelves. They'll become academic fodder and will be lost to the local community. The next and future generations will have no awareness that history exists where they live.

And it's telling that, despite the level of local interest, no attempt has been made to share what's happening with the local community. Excuses are made about metal detectorists removing finds, but is that really any different from archaeologists removing the same items, with the only records hidden away? Its not in the interests of Roxhill / Segro / Howdens to publicise what is being found, and they're determined to hide it.
[ Reply to This ]

Re: Growing anger over new development on top of prehistoric monument by Anonymous on Wednesday, 02 May 2018
Hello all!

Many of us in Raunds have been fighting the planning application for the extension of this industrial estate for a couple of years, see our website at stopwarthpark.co.uk and also the Stop Warth Park group on Facebook.

Please feel free to contact us if you need any local information, we need to make as much noise about this as possible!

Stuart
[ Reply to This ]

Re: Cotton Henge by Blingo_von_Trumpenstein on Monday, 30 April 2018
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Growing anger indeed. No henge is unimportant...to me they are far more important than the planners... I've started emailing everyone in Northamptonshire. Does anyone have any good ideas/contacts? I'm at the point where I may envoke a Tara/Stanton Moor type situation. It's bringing me to tears...
[ Reply to This ]
    Re: Cotton Henge by Blingo_von_Trumpenstein on Tuesday, 01 May 2018
    (User Info | Send a Message)
    An interesting reply from Northampton Archaeological Society as to why this henge isn't scheduled:

    The various known archaeological sites in the Raunds area were assessed by English Heritage (now Historic England) in the 1980s/90s to determine the priorities for preserving well preserved sites that related to those that had been excavated from the 1970s, through the 1980s and into the 1990s. As a result several sites in Raunds were made Scheduled Monuments.

    The Cotton 'Henge' lay on farmland that had been ploughed for perhaps 1000 years, and as a result it had been heavily truncated, with only the lower part of the ditches surviving, as was demonstrated by the trial trenching in the early 1990s. Giving the site Scheduled status would not have stopped the continuing damage from ploughing. The decision was therefore that the site was not worth giving Scheduled Monument status as it was not sufficiently well preserved.

    In a case like this it is then accepted that the site will continue to be damaged by ploughing, as is true for hundreds, if not thousands, of similar sites around the country, including many comparable sites of Neolithic and Bronze Age date. However, if they are threatened by development, there will then be a requirement that they must be excavated in advance of that development, as has happened on this case and with comparable sites both in Northamptonshire and around the country.
    [ Reply to This ]

Cotton Henge to be Bulldozed by Andy B on Sunday, 29 April 2018
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Cotton Henge, a 4,000 year old ditched enclosure, will be bulldozed to make room for a new warehouse that will go out of business in 4 years. Video interviews in the link.

The Bell Beaker Blogger writes: I want to put this in context so you can be properly pissed off. The developer and land owner already knew of the existence of the Neolithic ditched enclosure. Features like this are clearly marked on the plat, the geological-topographical survey, county maps, archaeological surveys and numerous other documents and websites Megalithic UK [that's us - MegP Ed]

Most of the time, springs, mines, small cemeteries, old wells and other such features are marked on the documents used to transfer property. So if you want to build a warehouse, don't buy a tract and pretend you didn't know there was a 4,000 year old ditched enclosure when you signed the papers.

What has happened here is that the developer is claiming that he has been unfairly burdened by the "discovery of an relatively unimportant archaeological site" and that rescue archaeology is the reasonable compromise to satisfy archaeology and development. Look closely at what they are doing.

The long term damage isn't the loss of one archaeological site, it's that the very concept of rescue archaeology is damaged by shenanigans like this. Plus the definition of what rescue archaeology is expanded from "oh crap, our dozer hit a stone cist" to one in which the archaeologists drive up to a site driving a cement mixer. The mutual cooperation and trust between developers, archaeologists, city planners, private property owners, and the citizenry is eroded. That isn't good for anybody.

More at
http://bellbeakerblogger.blogspot.co.uk/2018/04/cotton-henge-to-be-bulldozed.html
[ Reply to This ]
    Excavations will reveal more about ancient henge unearthed in Raunds by Andy B on Sunday, 29 April 2018
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    A team of archaeologists from Oxford Archaeology East have been working on behalf of Roxhill at the Warth Park development.

    As part of the mitigation strategy for the development, overseen by Liz Mordue, archaeological advisor for Northamptonshire County Council, and advised by Matthew Nicholas the Historic England science advisor for the East Midlands, excavation of the monument known as Cotton Henge is currently under way.

    Cotton Henge was first identified by aerial photography back in the 1970s and recorded on the Northamptonshire Historic Environment Record.

    https://www.northantstelegraph.co.uk/news/excavations-will-reveal-more-about-ancient-henge-unearthed-in-raunds-1-8472802
    [ Reply to This ]
    Re: Cotton Henge to be Bulldozed by Andy B on Monday, 21 May 2018
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    Raunds henge 'discovered' by Warth Park building work

    An archaeological site thought to be 4,000 years old has been fully unearthed by work to extend an industrial estate.

    Builders have uncovered the henge, which is 100m (330ft) in diameter, at Warth Park in Raunds, Northamptonshire.

    An aerial photo showing the scale of the Neolithic monument first emerged on Twitter on Tuesday, but was deleted.

    However, archaeologists say that site, known as Cotton Henge, has previously been investigated twice before.

    Oxford Archaeology East, working on behalf of developer Roxhill, said the henge was first identified by aerial photography in the 1970s.
    They added that it was likely to date from the late Neolithic period (circa 3000BC -2500BC) and forms part of a larger group of ceremonial landscape features located and excavated as part of the Raunds Area Project.

    'Not a new discovery'
    The current archaeological work is the first time the henge has been uncovered in full.

    But Matthew Nicholas, Historic England's science advisor for the East Midlands, tempered excitement by saying it was "not a new discovery".

    He said the monument "was studied carefully in the 1980s and 90s, but there were still some unanswered questions about its function".

    Excavations are planned to continue for a few more weeks, with a report to be issued to Northamptonshire County Council's archaeological advisor for approval.

    What is a henge?

    A henge is a prehistoric monument consisting of a circle of stone or wooden uprights, with Stonehenge in Wiltshire one of the best-known examples.

    Conventionally, a henge comprises of a a ditch with an external bank with one or more entranceways.

    Cotton Henge is formed purely of two ditches which would originally have had associated external banks, it never contained any standing stones.

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-northamptonshire-43814448
    [ Reply to This ]

Growing anger over new development on top of prehistoric monument by Andy B on Sunday, 29 April 2018
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Video report by ITV News Anglia's Stuart Leithes

Anger is mounting over a new warehousing development in Northamptonshire - being built on top of a 4,000 year old prehistoric monument.

A dig by archaeologists for the developers revealed the mysterious circular earthworks - known as Cotton Henge- first seen on aerial photography in the 1970s.

Locals say they didn't know about the historic site when plans for the extension to the Warth Park warehousing complex at Raunds were approved.

The henge - which would have been formed by two circular ditches and banks- doesn't have the protection of being a scheduled monument.

In a statement East Northamptonshire District Council which gave planning approval said:

The henge was known about prior to a planning application being submitted. One of the conditions imposed on the application as recommended by the archaeologist was that a scheme of works be developed that sets out how the developers planned to investigate and record their findings.

– East Northants District Council

http://www.itv.com/news/anglia/2018-04-23/growing-anger-over-new-development-on-top-of-prehistoric-monument/
[ Reply to This ]
    Re: Growing anger over new development on top of prehistoric monument by Andy B on Sunday, 29 April 2018
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    See our nearby site: West Cotton Monument Complex for details of previous excavations around here: A complex of previously unknown Neolithic and late Neolithic/early Bronze Age monuments lying beneath the deserted medieval village of West Cotton

    A Neolithic and Bronze Age Landscape in Northamptonshire: Volume 1 – The Raunds Area Project by Jan Harding, Frances Healy, 2008

    http://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=23201

    Northamptonshire don't seem bothered about bulldozing their prehistory...
    [ Reply to This ]

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