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The Henge Monuments of the British Isles: Myth and Archaeology

The Henge Monuments of the British Isles: Myth and Archaeology

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<< Our Photo Pages >> Walton Palisaded Enclosure - Timber Circle in Wales in Powys

Submitted by AngieLake on Thursday, 28 November 2013  Page Views: 37845

Neolithic and Bronze AgeSite Name: Walton Palisaded Enclosure Alternative Name: Walton Court ring ditch, Walton Basin
Country: Wales
NOTE: This site is 0.519 km away from the location you searched for.
County: Powys Type: Timber Circle
 Nearest Village: Old Radnor
Map Ref: SO25235996
Latitude: 52.232738N  Longitude: 3.09623W
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.
 3 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.
 4 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
 5

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Walton Palisaded Enclosure
Walton Palisaded Enclosure submitted by AngieLake : Hindwell/Walton Basin valley viewed from near the Kinnerton Stones area, looking south. (Vote or comment on this photo)
An unusually large ring ditch near Walton Court Farm, in Radnorshire’s Walton Basin. The ring ditch, which was identified as a cropmark from aerial photography, measures around 100m diameter and is defined by a relatively narrow ditch.

The Walton Court ring ditch is by far the largest such site in mid and north-east Wales, although there are a further 18 ring ditches over 30m in diameter, of which 11 measure more than 40m, all of which are considered to be under threat from ploughing. There are distinct clusters of these large monuments in the Walton Basin and around the Severn-Vyrnwy confluence. These enigmatic sites, (reminiscent of the 110m-diameter pre-stone circle at Stonehenge) appear to fall within a recently-recognised category of so-called ‘formative henges’ dating to the Middle Neolithic period. Part of the site underlies two Roman marching camps and a excavation was designed to test their relationship to the ring ditch.

More at CPAT

Walton Court ring ditch is at SO 25235996 and appears to be a separate monument but I have combined these site pages as it is very close by. This is also the site of the Walton Palisaded Enclosure neolithic pit alignments at SO25455990. More details at CPAT here

Note: An almost free book about Walton Basin archaeology and conservation - send £2 cheque or collect from Welshpool
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Walton Palisaded Enclosure
Walton Palisaded Enclosure submitted by AngieLake : Hindwell "a major ceremonial focus in Wales" near Walton. The palisaded enclosure might have been visible in the valley below here. Photographed from Old Radnor Church graveyard. [Standing to the NW of church, looking north.] The flat Walton Basin surrounded by hills also contains the Four Stones and Kinnerton Stones, as well as the Walton Cursus. (Vote or comment on this photo)

Walton Palisaded Enclosure
Walton Palisaded Enclosure submitted by AngieLake : Free book from CPAT on Walton Basin. Sample: part of pages 28 and 29, showing informative layout. (See site page here for how to obtain one.) (Vote or comment on this photo)

Walton Palisaded Enclosure
Walton Palisaded Enclosure submitted by AngieLake : This is the cover of the Walton Basin archaeology and conservation book. (See site page info for more.) [If it looks at all fuzzy it's because I had to shrink the scan to fit Meg P requirements.] (Vote or comment on this photo)

Walton Palisaded Enclosure
Walton Palisaded Enclosure submitted by AngieLake : Hindwell "a major ceremonial focus in Wales" near Walton. Photographed from Old Radnor Church graveyard. [Standing to the NW of church, looking northwest.] The flat Walton Basin surrounded by hills also contains the Four Stones and Kinnerton Stones, as well as the Walton Cursus and the palisaded enclosure. (1 comment - Vote or comment on this photo)

Do not use the above information on other web sites or publications without permission of the contributor.

Nearby Images from Geograph Britain and Ireland:
SO2559 : A44 west of Walton by Peter Whatley
by Peter Whatley
©2011(licence)
SO2559 : Barley, Walton (Radnorshire) by Richard Webb
by Richard Webb
©2019(licence)
SO2559 : A44, Walton by Richard Webb
by Richard Webb
©2019(licence)
SO2559 : A44 at Walton village boundary by Colin Pyle
by Colin Pyle
©2018(licence)
SO2559 : Fields north of Old Radnor by Richard Sutcliffe
by Richard Sutcliffe
©2020(licence)

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Nearby sites listing. In the following links * = Image available
 642m W 270° Knapp Mount Barrow* Barrow Cemetery (SO2458659975)
 694m N 11° Hindwell Farm 1* Round Barrow(s) (SO25376064)
 789m NNE 15° Hindwell Enclosure* Timber Circle (SO2544560720)
 839m NNW 338° Hindwell Cursus* Cursus (SO24926074)
 902m SSW 195° Old Radnor Church* Standing Stone (Menhir) (SO24995909)
 926m NW 306° Hindwell Cursus* Cursus (SO24496052)
 950m N 359° Hindwell Farm 2* Round Barrow(s) (SO25226091)
 974m E 100° Walton Cursus Cursus (SO26195978)
 1.0km W 270° Harpton Round Barrows* Round Barrow(s) (SO24225998)
 1.0km NNW 341° The Hindwell Stone* Standing Stone (Menhir) (SO24916093)
 1.1km NW 321° Four Stones (Powys)* Stone Circle (SO24576080)
 1.1km NW 325° Four Stones Barrow Cemetary* Barrow Cemetery (SO24596091)
 1.2km NNE 21° Hindwell Ash* Round Barrow(s) (SO25706111)
 1.3km E 92° Walton Green Cursus (SO26525989)
 1.3km N 354° Upper Ninepence barrow and Neolithic enclosure Round Barrow(s) (SO251613)
 1.4km NE 46° Hindwell Causewayed Enclosure* Causewayed Enclosure (SO26246092)
 1.6km E 87° Walton Cursus Cursus (SO26826001)
 1.7km NE 37° Knobley Stone* Standing Stone (Menhir) (SO26296132)
 2.6km NNW 340° Crossfield Lane Barrow (Kinnerton)* Round Barrow(s) (SO24356243)
 2.9km NNW 346° Kinnerton* Standing Stones (SO24566274)
 3.0km ESE 116° Bradnor Hill 1 Stone Row / Alignment (SO27945860)
 3.2km SSE 146° Yeld Wood Stone Row / Alignment (SO26995724)
 3.3km SSE 165° The Whet Stone (Hergest Ridge)* Natural Stone / Erratic / Other Natural Feature (SO26055680)
 3.4km ENE 71° Burfa Camp* Hillfort (SO285610)
 3.9km NNE 20° Castle Ring (Powys)* Hillfort (SO26646360)
View more nearby sites and additional images

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"Walton Palisaded Enclosure" | Login/Create an Account | 8 News and Comments
  
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Re: Walton Palisaded Enclosure by Anonymous on Thursday, 08 November 2018
Could these structures be slave enclosures?
[ Reply to This ]

'Walton Basin archaeology and conservation' Book by AngieLake on Wednesday, 27 November 2013
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I'd read about this free book obtainable from CPAT (Clwyd-Powys Archaeological Trust) and thought it was too good to miss. I received it in today's post, and was stunned by the quality of it, for only £2, which probably just covers postage and packing.

Written by Bill Britnell, and measuring 8" x 8 and 1/4", and about 1/4 of an inch thick, it is beautifully presented and packed with many black and white diagrams and colourful photos of the area. Inside it reads: 'Published with the help of grant aid from CADW - Welsh government.' (They did a good and very thorough job on this one!)

Though I've been too busy to read any of it yet (only had it 2hrs!), there's a wealth of info on its 80 pages, covering every period in history from Prehistoric lithic scatters, the Neolithic, Bronze Age, Iron Age, Roman period, Medieval, and later.

Aerial photos overlaid with diagrams help the reader to understand the successive settlements and monuments.
There are also photos and info on nearby Iron Age hillforts Burfa Bank and Castle Ring, etc.

For your free copy write enclosing a £2 cheque made payable to:

The Clwyd-Powys Archaeological Trust
41 Broad Street
WELSHPOOL
Powys
SY21 7RR

Or collect from their offices for free. I've posted up a couple of scans of the cover and inside for info. More on the CPAT web site.
[ Reply to This ]
    Walton Basin - archaeology and conservation by Bill Britnell - Free Download by Andy B on Sunday, 16 July 2017
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    The Walton basin is a natural amphitheatre surrounded by hills on the borderland of England and Wales, between the towns of New Radnor, Powys, and Kington, Herefordshire. To the casual eye there is little, apart from the stunning scenery, that is remarkable about the landscape. However, the discoveries made here in recent decades have brought to light a story of human history spanning many millennia that is virtually unparalleled in such a relatively small area. The sites that we now know of include a Neolithic causewayed enclosure, cursuses, palisaded enclosures and ring-ditches, Bronze Age burial mounds, a stone circle and standing stones, Iron Age hillforts and camps, Roman marching camps, fort, civil settlement and roads, early medieval church settlements, a stretch of Offa’s Dyke, medieval mottes and the medieval town and stone castle at New Radnor.

    Many of the sites lie hidden in the ground, which means that much of the history of the Walton basin has had to be pieced together from glimpses of evidence
    gleaned from fieldwalking, aerial survey, geophysical survey, ground survey and
    trial excavation.
    Free Download here
    http://www.cpat.org.uk/resource/booklets/walton.pdf

    Also CPAT Report No 1195 Walton Basin Project 2012-13

    Recent Cadw-funded project work in the Walton Basin under the aegis of the Prehistoric Funerary and Ritual Sites and the Roman Military Vici initiatives, combined with the results of earlier assessment work by the Trust under the direction of Dr Alex Gibson continues to highlight the importance and complexity of this area of eastern Radnorshire, which is virtually unparalleled elsewhere within the British Isles
    http://www.cpat.org.uk/resource/reports/cpat1195.pdf
    [ Reply to This ]

Walton Basin talks, 7th May, 22nd August by Andy B on Monday, 15 April 2013
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May 7th, 2013
Recent Discoveries in the Walton Basin - illustrated talk at Walton Village Hall
This talk will be hosted jointly by the Radnorshire Society and the Old Radnor WI, and will concentrate on the recent fascinating discoveries that continue to pour from the Walton Basin. Starts at 7.30pm.

August 22nd, 2013
Recent work in the Walton Basin - illustrated talk at Presteigne
As part of the 2013 Presteigne Festival, CPAT's Nigel Jones will be giving an illustrated summary of recent archaeological discoveries in the Walton Basin which will be followed by a coach tour of the area. The talk will take place in Evenbjobb Village Hall and will start at 11.00 am. Further details are available on the Prestiegne Festival website http://www.presteignefestival.com

September 14th, 2013
Recent discoveries in the Walton Basin - illustrated exhibition at Kington Horse Show
As part of the 2013 Kington Show, CPAT will be mounting an illustarted exhibtion about recent archaeological discoveries in the Walton Basin. The show takes place on the 14th September 2013. Further information about the show can be found on the show website at http://www.kingtonshow.co.uk

More at http://www.cpat.org.uk/outreach/events.htm
[ Reply to This ]

Could Mid Wales have been home to a 'neolithic theme park' for rituals and feasts? by Andy B on Monday, 15 April 2013
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A dig at a site in Mid Wales is lending weight to the theory that there may have been a Neolithic tribal centre based in the area. Mid Wales could have been home to a “Neolithic theme park” used for gatherings, religious rituals and feasts, archaeologists suggest.

A dig at the Walton Basin in Radnorshire is lending weight to the theory that there may have been a Neolithic tribal centre based in the area.

The site has been dated back to between 3800 and 2300BC and shows remains of palisades, cursuses (lengths of bank) and enclosures that all bear some resemblance to monuments found at Stonehenge.

The Clwyd-Powys Archaeological Trust has been carrying out intermittent excavations on the site for close to 40 years.

The findings show that Wales is at least home to the remains of one of the largest neolithic timber constructions in the whole of Europe.

Buried in the soil are seven monuments that experts believe could have been the sites for tribal ceremonies that were held at certain times of the year.

Among the monuments is the Walton Neolithic palisaded enclosure made from a circular perimeter of 1100-1200 four-metre-high timber logs and a similar monumental Hindwell palisdaded enclosure that would have accommodated five London Olympic stadia within its foundation.

Bill Britnell, director of the Clwyd-Powys Archaeological Trust and part of the digging team at the Walton Basin, said he was stunned by the magnitude of the structures

“You look at the man power that will have gone into making them and it must have been massive because they are absolutely huge. You’ve got enormous communities of people from some kind of tribal gathering where thousands gathered to build these monuments,” he said.

“If we want to find out what people were doing in the past, the information is out there and it’s invaluable.

“It increases people’s awareness in the places they are living in and it’s interesting in terms of the changes humanity goes through.”

During the digs, pottery, flint tools and plant and food remains have all been found.

But in order to delve deeper, archaeologists must find a waterlogged area in the landscape that may well contain artifacts that have been preserved to a much greater extent.

Mr Britnell said the size of the archaeological sites means the project is unfinished and believes there could well be more to find.

Read more at
http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/archaeological-dig-walton-basin-mid-2586816 and see the link for the upcoming series of talks.
[ Reply to This ]

Re: Walton Basin in Jul/Aug Archaeology magazine by AngieLake on Monday, 01 August 2011
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While reading the July/August 2011 (edition no.119) of Archaeology magazine in Torquay library recently I made a note that there was a good article on the Walton Basin on p.28.
"Walton Basin [lowlands?] Ancient Landscape - mapped by decades of aerial survey".. (though I forget if that was the title, or just a sentence!)

PS: I put up the site page long before last June... it must have been something Andy was editing at the time that made it seem I'd been active recently. :)
[ Reply to This ]

Important Neolithic henge in Radnorshire's Walton Basin by Andy B on Tuesday, 28 June 2011
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What look like just a few fields close to Presteigne, in fact cover up an ‘exceptional’ and significant historical site which maps around 5,000 years of Welsh history.

The Walton Basin has been an area of interest to Clwyd-Powys Archaeological Trust (CPAT), who have been carrying out significant excavation work over the last few years to try and uncover the wonders of Welsh history.

One of their earliest findings is from the Neolithic period, where archaeologists believe they have found something that could be as significant as the word famous Stonehenge, on the Salisbury plains. [Groan, here we go.. MegP Ed]

Chris Martin, regional architect at CPAT, explained that what has been found in the Walton Basin is thought to be a rare Neolithic 'causewayed' enclosure.

Having used some 1,400 mature oak trees in its construction, which has been dated to around 2700 BC, to date this is the largest Neolithic enclosure in Britain, making its finding quite significant.

“It’s really quite an impressive structure when you consider that it was 5,000 years ago or so,” said Chris.

“We don’t actually know what it is for. It seems to be some kind of ceremonial enclosure that was significant to the local population, a religious structure, a meeting place for the community.”

Will Adams, curator at the Radnorshire Museum in Llandrindod Wells speculated that one of the enclosures could be as bit as four Millennium Stadiums.

“This could be as important as Stonehenge,” he said. [Yes we got that bit - MegP Ed]

The enclosures may be significant if they are the only ones, however archaeologists are unsure as to whether or not these enclosures exist elsewhere in the country.

Despite this, the site's significance is not in question because of all the other era that can be found there from the Bronze Age, to the Romans.

Mr Martin said: “There is a riot of stuff in a relatively small space, you’ve got almost an entire Welsh history in this small area.

"It’s a mind blowing area and has something for everyone, and there is almost too much to say about the basin. It really is exceptional.”

There is currently an exhibition at the Radnorshire Museum on the Walton Basin, and people can watch an interactive video which explains the significance of the site, or it can be viewed at http://www.cpat.org.uk/vr/llandod/index.htm
[Note: This requires some obscure web plugin I've never heard of - MegP Ed]

If anyone wants to visit CPAT themselves for more information about the Basin, or would like any other information on archaeology in Powys, then you can visit their office on Broad Street in Welshpool.

Source:
http://www.countytimes.co.uk/news/103422/neolithic-henge-in-radnorshire-s-walton-basin.aspx
[ Reply to This ]

Re: Walton Palisaded Enclosure by AngieLake on Saturday, 09 August 2008
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NB: See also 'Hindwell Enclosure' site page for this info, AND a MAP.

I came to this area while en route from Aberystwyth to Derby, especially to see the area of the huge ceremonial complex that I'd read about in Rodney Castleden's book "Britain 3000 BC". I was surprised that I'd never heard of it before as he compared its importance to Avebury.
Another author [see later in article] tells us that the Palisaded enclosure is the largest in Britain and second largest of its period in Europe.

Castleden writes: (quote)

"A spectacular enclosure, a huge oval of tall posts, was created at Hindwell at the centre of the Walton basin surrounded by the moorlands of Radnor Forest. It seemed no one lived round the edge, on the hills; everyone lived on the fertile low ground, most of them right in the centre, the area shown in the map, on a central spinal ridge. Although low, this commanded views across the whole basin and it had been the natural choice for a settlement site for over a thousand years.
The people at Hindwell built round houses 5-15m in diameter, each with a central hearth. On lower ground to the south they built their monuments: two cursus monuments near streams, then a palisade enclosure marking off the narrow spur between the Summergill and Riddings Brooks. A round barrow and a large mound of Silbury type were added near the Walton Enclosure.
North of Summergill Brook, on the lower ground below the settlement, the inhabitants built a small stone circle and a huge enclosure made of close-set oak posts nearly a metre thick and probably 7m tall. The posts had first been scorched to weather-proof them, then left to disintegrate in position, as was often the neolithic way.
Its story rooted in the middle stone age and reaching on into the bronze age, Hindwell was a major ceremonial complex rivalling Avebury."

A brilliant source of information on this area is from website:http://www.rgreen.org.uk/Radnor.html.
About halfway through the article 'The Walton Basin also called the Radnor Valley', is the part on its Prehistory.
Mr Green tells us how the site of the palisaded enclosure was found:
(quote from this section only)

"This was the view [an aerial photo accompanies this] which sparked the first major excavations in the Walton Basin and revealed an extraordinary find. But it was not the only one: other crop marks were discovered and the finds they enabled are described below. The photograph shows the western end of an enclosure near to Hindwell Farm. On excavation it was found to consist of post holes which had been occupied by regularly spaced oak posts about 700 cm (about 28 inches) to 1 metre in diameter spaced on average 800 cm from edge to edge, each post hole being about 2 metres deep. The enclosure was of about 34 hectares (84 acres) with a circumference of over 2 km (1.24 miles), and is the largest in Britain and second largest enclosure of the period in Europe. Radiocarbon dating suggests a time of 4000BP (2050BC), roughly contemporary with Stonehenge, and is confirmed by similar results from each posthole. Each post would have weighed about four and a half tonnes involving the felling of 6300 tonnes of oak - there would it is calculated have been 1410 posts - and required not only the manpower to fell and dress the timber but also arrangements for its transport and erection. The enclosure's purpose is unclear, but it is likely that the posts which were so close together were linked by a fence which would make the area suitable for keeping animals - but in enormous bulk. Was it defensive, to keep things out or was it to keep things in?"
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