Durrington Walls walk… 4 miles

Stonehenge Landscape, www.nationaltrust.org.uk/walks

Explore a less well-known part of the World Heritage Site and the link , like Stonehenge between two of the most important enclosures in the country. While the (pictured), are large Stonehenge stone circle is known to have been a place of burial in times, enclosures with an inner ditch was a place where people lived for part of the year and held feasts and outer bank, built in the and rituals. Both henges were in use over 4,500 years ago. Neolithic period around 4,500

to 5,000 years ago. They are Start: car park Grid ref: SU151434 Map: OS Landranger 184 believed to be ceremonial rather than defensive and How to get here and local facilities may contain standing stones, Bike: National Cycle Network route 45 runs south-east of the property. See a stone circle or timber posts. www.sustrans.org.uk Bus: Wilts & Dorset 5 or 6, between Salisbury, Pewsey, Marlborough and Swindon. Service 16 from , request stop at Woodhenge To protect archaeology from Rail: Salisbury station, 9 miles from Woodhenge car park being destroyed by the plough, we are turning large areas into Road: Woodhenge car park is 1¾ miles north of Amesbury, follow signs from A345 grassland. Created using a Picnic area (not NT) and information panel at Woodhenge car park. WCs, outdoor species-rich seed mix harvested café, picnic area (not NT) at Stonehenge car park, ¾ mile from this walking route. from Salisbury Plain, the new

grassland is great for chalk

downland species, such as this A chalk downland landscape of ancient Neolithic and Bronze Age monuments… Essex Skipper on Knapweed.

t Durrington Walls: The largest complete henge in Britain is 500m in diameter and encloses a natural valley. It once contained timber circles and what seem to have been Ancient round barrows on King shrines. The area outside the ditch and bank was once a settlement, perhaps Barrow Ridge may be 4,500 containing hundreds of houses, making Durrington Walls potentially the largest village years old. Burial mounds were in northwest Europe at the time. People travelled for miles to feast and take part in built for only the most important ceremonies, probably at the midwinter solstice. Woodhenge stood nearby as an people. Individuals were buried impressive surrounded by a bank and ditch. with grave goods, such as bronze daggers, flint t The : This standing stone now lies on its side, but over millennia it has arrowheads and decorated been a focus for Bronze Age urn burials, an Iron Age boundary line and Roman Beaker pottery. remains. It is made of sarsen, a kind of sandstone, the same as the largest stones in All images © NT/Lucy Evershed the Stonehenge stone circle. The reason for its name remains a mystery.

t The Stonehenge Avenue: A two mile long ceremonial way linking Stonehenge with ‘The animal bones are being thrown away half-eaten. It's what we the River Avon and crossing King Barrow Ridge. Interestingly, Durrington Walls is also call a feasting assemblage. This is where they went to party!’ connected to the river, leading experts to believe the Avon symbolically linked the two Professor Mike Parker Pearson, University of Sheffield archaeologist, on monuments, forming part of a ritual journey; maybe leading to the afterlife. Durrington Walls

© Reproduced by permission of Ordnance Survey. All rights reserved. OS licence no. AL 100018591 Directions

1. At Woodhenge car park, go through the gate nearest to you and into a field. Walk downhill into Durrington Walls (taking care of rabbit holes). 2. At the centre of Durrington Walls, looking around you, you can appreciate the nature of the henge as an enclosed valley. Standing here 4,500 years ago, you would have been viewing several ‘shrines’ around the slopes. Next, turn left and walk to the corner of this field. Pass through gates either side of the road, heading towards a low rock. 3. The Cuckoo Stone is one of very few stones in the area that is made from sarsen – most local rock is chalk or flint. From here, continue forward to the next gate.

4. You are now on the route of the old military railway between Amesbury and Larkhill, turn right and follow the path. 5. When you reach a crossroads and National Trust sign to King Barrow Ridge, turn left and follow the shaded bridleway. 6. At the junction, turn right through a gate to continue along the ridge, crossing the Stonehenge Avenue on your way to a line of 200-year-old beech trees and a fine view of Stonehenge. At winter solstice, Neolithic people may have marked the occasion of the midwinter sunset at Stonehenge, before travelling to Durrington Walls to Distance, terrain and accessibility celebrate the new sunrise. 4 mile (6.4km) across open access land, including Rights of Way, with gates, at several 7. Continue forward to New King Barrows, a fine row of Early points. The ground is uneven in places, with a few short, steep slopes. Sheep graze the Bronze Age burial mounds, originally capped in white chalk fields and there are ground-nesting birds, so please keep your dog under control. so they would have been visible from a far distance. Return to point 6, turn right and follow the stony track to point 8.

8. Take a left turn through a gap in the hedge, to join the old Contact us…

military railway once more. This leads back to the gate in Telephone: 01980 664780 the corner of the Cuckoo Stone field. Email: [email protected] 9. Head across the grassland to Woodhenge and back to Website: www.nationaltrust.org.uk/stonehengelandscape Woodhenge car park.

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