<< Feature Articles >> Were Henges Stock Pens?
Submitted by Thorgrim on Sunday, 18 December 2005 Page Views: 10756
Neolithic and Bronze AgeCountry: England County: Essex Type: HengeInternal Links:
I have recently been looking at my local henges and am plotting them on the Megalithic Map. So far, I have only looked at the twelve Essex henges and they are only visible as crop marks. I intend to map those throughout East Anglia.
First point that is apparent is that there is no consistent feature regarding entrances. Most have two gaps opposite each other, but some just one. There is no consistent position of the entrance gaps. The only consistent factor is that they all are formed of a roughly circular ditch and bank.
Boxted has entrances at N and S, Corringham at SW and NE, Cressing at E, Felsted at W, Wigborough at SE and possibly NW, Little Baddow at N and S, Little Bromley at NW and SE, Sturmer at NE. The others have no visible gaps.
That suggests to me that these henges do not have a religious/ritual purpose. The entrances are not consistent and are not aligned to sunsets, sunrises or anything else. They are just opposite entrances and that suggests driving stock into a holding pen and out the other side, perhaps afer counting them.
I am not aware of detailed excavation so cannot comment on whether there is evidence of nitrate enrichment which might be expected in a stock pen. There is no local stone and I am unaware of any post holes so can draw no conclusion regarding walls and stock holding capabilities. Finally, the shapes vary from circular to oval and unbalanced circular with the opposite gaps off-centre and to one side.
The value of looking afresh at East Anglian henges is that they are little known and we can leave aside the enormous ones of Wessex. Part of the problem lies in the way that we classify monuments. We say that a circular earthwork with a ditch and bank is a henge. Then we jump to the conclusion that all of the things in our "henge" category were built to serve the same purpose. That cannot be right.
Finally - I am glad to see the term "ring-ditch" being used more outside its more usual Norman time slot. Nothing wrong with that as we don't insist that the term "barrow" only correctly applies to the Bronze Age. Time to re-examine these circular features, abandon the preconceptions that they are all the same and also time to forget the "henge" word where nothing whatsoever "hangs". Clearly, a brief look at just twelve henges in one English county is not conclusive, but as the study widens other factors may be revealed. I would be very interested to learn more about henges in your part of the world.
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