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<< Image Pages >> Beckhampton Penning circle - Stone Circle in England in Wiltshire

Submitted by TheCaptain on Sunday, 19 March 2023  Page Views: 9087

Neolithic and Bronze AgeSite Name: Beckhampton Penning circle
Country: England County: Wiltshire Type: Stone Circle
Nearest Town: Marlborough  Nearest Village: Beckhampton
Map Ref: SU09876713
Latitude: 51.403115N  Longitude: 1.8595W
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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Beckhampton Penning circle
Beckhampton Penning circle submitted by Andy B : The view to Silbury Hill from the Beckhampton Penning site. Photo credit Neil Mortimer, 3rd Stone Issue 29 (Vote or comment on this photo)
William Stukeley i wrote: “Upon the heath south of Silbury Hill was a very large oblong work like a long barrow, made only of stones pitch‘d in the ground, no tumulus.” In 1878 A C Smith excavated, or rather in typical antiquarian fashion he ‘set a careful man to dig’(!) “We triumphantly vindicated our impression that it was a circle, by unearthing in that one day no less than twenty-two sarsens, lying from two to 12 inches below the surface”. Leslie Grinsell was the last writer to see any megalithic traces in 1950 when the stones lying in heaps about the area with probably none in situ. Today there is the slightest trace of the bank and ditches in the site’s southernmost sector. The evidence used to classify the Beckhampton Penning site as a stone circle is at best conjectural. But evidence for a long barrow is good,

There are similarities with Old Chapel long barrow as described by Stukeley. All traces of which have now sadly disappeared

Beckhampton Penning embanked stone circle, or whatever it is can now only be seen as crop marks.

From English Heritage Record of Monuments (21756)
"The monument includes the remains of an oval stone circle, contained by a double ditched bank, 700m south-west of West Kennet long barrow. Although bank and ditches have been reduced by cultivation and the stones removed, the monument survives as buried features with overall dimensions of c.80m from south-west to north-east and 66m from north-west to south-east; the north-eastern part is visible only on aerial photographs.

The site was first recorded by William Stukeley in the 1700's. He noted that it was 'a very large oblong work like a long barrow, made only of stones pitched in the ground' and situated on 'the heath south of Silbury Hill'. The site was partially excavated by Smith and Long in 1877 and this revealed the remains of a roughly oval setting of stones. By 1950, when visited by Grinsell, the stones had all been removed and piled in 'heaps' during the many years that the site had been under arable cultivation.

The oval earthwork is cut by elements of an Iron Age and Romano-British field system which comprises small rectangular fields and covers a total area of 230 acres and is visible as soil marks on aerial photographs. The boundaries of these fields represent land division and management in the later prehistoric period.

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Beckhampton Penning circle
Beckhampton Penning circle submitted by Andy B : A C Smith’s plan of the site. Source: Smith, A. C., 1878, ‘Supposed Stone Circle near Avebury’, WAM 17 p253-254 (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:
SU1066 : Farmland by Alex McGregor
by Alex McGregor
©2015(licence)
SU0966 : Allington Down by Wayland Smith
by Wayland Smith
©2014(licence)
SU1066 : Field and farm buildings by Doug Lee
by Doug Lee
©2007(licence)
SU1066 : A circular walk on the Downs from Avebury [60] by Michael Dibb
by Michael Dibb
©2020(licence)
SU1066 : A circular walk on the Downs from Avebury [61] by Michael Dibb
by Michael Dibb
©2020(licence)

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Nearby sites listing. In the following links * = Image available
 520m W 275° Beckhampton Penning barrows Barrow Cemetery (SU09356717)
 836m NNE 26° West Kennet Barrow* Round Barrow(s) (SU10246788)
 876m NE 46° West Kennett Long Barrow* Long Barrow (SU10506774)
 997m NNE 13° Swallowhead Spring* Holy Well or Sacred Spring (SU101681)
 1.1km SSW 208° Allington Down Tumulus* Round Barrow(s) (SU0936366184)
 1.4km N 6° Silbury Hill* Artificial Mound (SU10016853)
 1.4km NNE 32° Silbaby* Misc. Earthwork (SU1062668354)
 1.6km NE 47° West Kennet Palisaded Enclosures* Ancient Village or Settlement (SU110682)
 1.6km ESE 117° Harestone Down* Stone Circle (SU113664)
 1.6km SE 131° Harestone Down Tumulus* Round Barrow(s) (SU1111766058)
 1.7km ENE 71° Stone pair between Kennetts* Natural Stone / Erratic / Other Natural Feature (SU115677)
 1.8km E 99° East Kennett longbarrow* Long Barrow (SU11636684)
 1.8km SSE 168° All Cannings Down Tumulus* Round Barrow(s) (SU1023765380)
 2.0km S 182° All Cannings enclosed Iron Age farmstead and Tumuli* Ancient Village or Settlement (SU0979265177)
 2.0km WNW 288° Bishops Cannings 88 Bell Barrow* Round Barrow(s) (SU0793367741)
 2.1km WNW 287° Bishops Cannings 89 Bowl Barrow* Round Barrow(s) (SU0785467757)
 2.1km ENE 68° Bowl Barrow South of the Sanctuary* Barrow Cemetery (SU11836794)
 2.1km ENE 66° The Sanctuary.* Stone Circle (SU11836802)
 2.2km ENE 67° Bowl Barrow SE of the Sanctuary Barrow Cemetery (SU11896797)
 2.2km E 88° East Kennett garden feature* Modern Stone Circle etc (SU12066720)
 2.2km NE 48° Overton Hill barrow cemetery* Barrow Cemetery (SU11526863)
 2.3km NNE 21° West Kennet Avenue* Multiple Stone Rows / Avenue (SU10696928)
 2.3km NNW 338° South Street Long Barrow* Chambered Tomb (SU09006927)
 2.3km NNW 330° Longstones Barrow* Long Barrow (SU08706914)
 2.3km ENE 64° The Sanctuary Barrows* Barrow Cemetery (SU11966816)
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"Beckhampton Penning circle" | Login/Create an Account | 7 News and Comments
  
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Beckhampton Penning, the stone circle that never was by Andy B on Sunday, 19 March 2023
(User Info | Send a Message)
Read the full article on which the above text is based in 3rd Stone Issue 29, available here: https://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=2146415080
[ Reply to This ]

Re: Beckhampton Penning circle by Andy B on Wednesday, 26 October 2022
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A roughly oval-shaped setting of stones excavated in 1877. The status of the site and its date are uncertain, though an enclosure may be a more suitable interpretation than a stone circle. Soilmark traces of a bank with inner and outer ditches have been tentatively associated with this feature but are more likely to belong to a field system which covers this area (described in SU 06 NE 68).
More information : (SU 09856713) Stone Circle (NR) (remains of). (1)

Excavations at a scatter of stones, nearly a mile south of
Silbury Hill, by Smith and Long in 1877, revealed the remains of
a roughly oval setting of stones (see plan) enclosing an area
261ft by 216ft. Identified by Smith with Stukeley's very large
oblong work like a long barrow, made only of stones pitched in
the ground, no tumulus (2) which Stukeley says is on 'the heath
south of Silbury Hill'. According to Grinsell (3) in 1950 the
ground had long been arable and the stones were lying in heaps
with probably hardly any in situ.

More at
https://www.heritagegateway.org.uk/Gateway/Results_Single.aspx?uid=215581&resourceID=19191
[ Reply to This ]

Re: Beckhampton Penning circle by PeterKnight on Friday, 11 March 2011
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Hi,
My research into West Kennet, revealed that from Beckhampton Penning site, West Kennet Long Barrow sits exactly on the line of the high on which we stand, its full length being visible. it also marks the major lunar standstill between the two sites.
It is not sure whether the stones of Beckhampton Penning (which have now all gone) marked the remains of a stone circle or a barrow of some knid.
Peter (stoneseeker.net)
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