Concordat governing the location and construction of building for Ministry of Defence at Larkhill (As agreed with MPBW, Ancient Monuments Division) The Ministry of Defence have a requirement for a School of Artillery at Larkhill for as long as can be foreseen. In addition to the buildings now being erected, this Army Establishment may require further buildings or structures. However, it is the long term objective of the Ministry of Public Building and Works that no buildings or large tree plantings should be visible from Stonehenge. In furtherance of this objective, and to permit any necessary further development of the Army Establishment to be planned without further consultation on this aspect. It is agreed: a. On the Ministry of Defence owned land south of the line described in Annex A (but excluding Durrington Downs Farm where, however, MPBW shall be consulted about the siting and character of any replacements or additions), no new buildings or structures shall be erected except additions to existing buildings; these additions not to exceed 50 sq metres in area and 5 metres in height above ground level. All new building work shall be screened by trees if visible from Stonehenge. b. Any proposal for a building of more than 9 metres above ground level to be erected North of the line as described and which would not be completely hidden from Stonehenge by ground contours shall be the subject of specific agreement between the Departments. c. The Ministry of Defence will take no action which would increase the obtrusion of existing buildings and structures on the landscape as seen from Stonehenge. d. The Ministry of Defence will take account when considering requirements for new building in the Larkhill area, the effect which such development might have in prolonging the life of existing buildings which are visible from Stonehenge. Annexure ‘A’ to Concordat Building line following completion of building for the move of Manorbier From the limit of MOD property in the WEST the building line follows the Packway to the junction with the pathway to the cricket pavilion (at the Eastern end of the Shopping Centre). Thence, NORTH along this pathway past the Cricket pavilion to the junction with the School of Artillery Officers’ Mess approach which it follows NORTH (to the West of the Officers’ Mess) to the junction with GLOVER Road. Thence, EAST along GLOVE Road to the junction with the PACKWAY. Thence EAST along the PACKWAY to the junction with WOOD Road. Thence SOUTH along WOOD Road to the junction with POWNALL Road to the MOD Boundary. 286 Stonehenge, Avebury and Associated Sites World Heritage Site Management Plan 2015 Appendices Appendix K Detailed archaeological description of the Stonehenge and Avebury WHS Palaeolithic and Mesolithic Evidence of Palaeolithic activity in the Avebury area is sparse, much of it on the clay with flints but with a presence now apparent around the headwaters of the River Kennet. Evidence at Cherhill, in Butler’s Field and in the area later occupied by Falkner’s Circle suggests a transient presence during the Later Mesolithic in the Avebury area with more sustained activity further down the Kennet valley around Newbury and Thatcham. The sockets for four very large Early Mesolithic posts (c 8,000 BC) were found on the site of the previous Stonehenge car park. Such monumental activity is exceptionally rare in Britain during the Mesolithic. On the spring line overlooked by what later became Vespasian’s Camp at Blick Mead, lithic and faunal evidence suggests a sustained or repeated large-scale presence throughout much of the Mesolithic. Earlier Neolithic (c 4000–3000 BC) The earliest ceremonial and funerary monuments in and around the Stonehenge portion of the WHS date from the Earlier Neolithic and include about a dozen long barrows (some of which were burial mounds) and Robin Hood’s Ball, a causewayed enclosure just outside the WHS. These monuments were built in within what was already by then a largely open, grassland environment. The Cursus (a long thin earthwork enclosure bounded by a ditch and bank) was constructed around 3,630–3,370 BC, and the Lesser Cursus (a smaller rectangular enclosure) was also built towards the end of this period. The years between about 3,700 and 3,300 BC saw the construction of a number of earthen long barrows and chambered tombs in the Avebury part of the WHS. Among the earliest are the chambered examples at West Kennet and Millbarrow. Unlike the earthen long barrows such as South Street and Horslip, that were built slightly later, both West Kennet and Millbarrow had a mortuary aspect to their use. A recent radiocarbon dating programme suggests that the causewayed enclosure at Windmill Hill was built within a few years of West Kennet Long Barrow, though the enclosure itself was preceded by earlier activity and it remained a focal point for deposition into the Early Bronze Age. Later Neolithic (3000–2200 BC) Stonehenge itself and Avebury Henge and Stone Circles are both the products of a long sequence of construction and modification. The construction of the small circular enclosure at Stonehenge was begun around 3,000 BC and a similar early phase of construction evident beneath the final henge bank at Avebury may date from around the same time. To the west of the Henge the Longstones enclosure was also constructed during this period, though its form echoes that of the much earlier enclosure on Windmill Hill. At Stonehenge the principal entrance was on the north-east side and a secondary one to the south. Around this time fifty-six circular pits, known as the ‘Aubrey Holes’ after their original discoverer John Aubrey (1626–1697), were dug inside the bank at Stonehenge. These once held either stout timber posts or stones, but when these rotted or were removed cremations were placed within them. The Avebury Henge ditch and bank seem to have been built c 2600 BC. The sequence of stone settings here is not firmly established but may have begun with the Cove and inner settings and been followed by the Outer Circle. Likewise the date of Falkner’s Circle is uncertain. The Sanctuary on Overton Hill and linked to Avebury by the West Kennet Avenue, represents another circular ceremonial monument, in this case built initially of timber posts which were subsequently replaced by sarsen stones. Neither the West Kennet nor the Beckhampton Avenues are well dated but appear to have been built after the Henge and Stone Circles towards the end of the Later Neolithic; while Silbury Hill was constructed between c 2400 BC and 2300 BC. The West Kennet Palisade Enclosures, which today survive only below ground, are also of Later Neolithic date. At Stonehenge the sequence of the erection, dismantling and re-erection of the stone settings (comprised of bluestones from the Preseli Hills in West Wales, sarsens and, in one case, old red sandstone) is complex and still the subject of some debate but recent parchmark evidence suggests that contra to previous suggestions the outer sarsen circle was once complete. Very few other megalithic stone structures exist which have the architectural and technical sophistication of Stonehenge. It was uniquely built using woodworking techniques which may have been used in timber structures of the period such as those at Durrington Walls and Woodhenge. To the east of Stonehenge, on Coneybury Hill, stood the smaller monument known as Coneybury Henge, while to the north-east stood the massive henge enclosure of Durrington Stonehenge, Avebury and Associated Sites World Heritage Site Management Plan 2015 Appendices 287 Walls with the smaller Woodhenge situated close by to the south. The timber structures at Durrington Walls were constructed perhaps a generation earlier than the encircling bank and ditch which formed the henge enclosure. There original use appears to be associated with the remains of at least ten late Neolithic houses situated inside and just outside the area later encircled by Durrington Walls henge excavated as part of the Stonehenge Riverside Project. The excavators have suggested that they may be the surviving elements of a much larger village of many hundreds of houses in use at the time of the construction of the main sarsen phase of Stonehenge. This would make it the largest village in northwest Europe at that time. Stonehenge and Avebury would both have served as major ceremonial centres drawing large populations to the area both during their construction and subsequently. Recent evidence from stable isotope analysis suggests that some of the people visiting the site may have travelled considerable distances coming from well outside of the region. A deep shaft known as the Wilsford Shaft was excavated at this time, and continued in use until the Roman period. The open nature of the countryside was maintained by grazing animals. Early Bronze Age (c 2200–1600 BC) Hundreds of round barrows of various forms were raised during the Early Bronze Age at both Avebury and Stonehenge. The discovery of Beaker graves unmarked by any mounds next to naturally occurring sarsens to the north of the Avebury part of the WHS and at the foot of stones in the West Kennet Avenue show that barrows were not the only places of burial in the landscape at this time. At West Kennet there is clear evidence that the Earlier Neolithic tomb was deliberately blocked during the Later Neolithic and there is also evidence of Beaker period activity within the tomb. And the Stone settings within the Henge at Avebury were still being maintained and used. From their earliest construction Stonehenge and Avebury were individual components within landscapes in which the visual relationships between monuments and the contingent histories of particular places were important. There was a strong visual relationship between the round barrow cemeteries surrounding Stonehenge and Avebury and the pre-existing Later Neolithic monuments. This is perhaps more readily apparent today at Stonehenge with among others the King Barrow Ridge Barrows, the Cursus Barrows, the Normanton Down Barrows and the Winterbourne Stoke Barrows all built on prominent ridges within the landscape and situated in direct relationship to earlier monuments. In the Early Bronze Age Stonehenge was linked physically with the River Avon by the construction of an Avenue consisting of a pair of parallel banks and ditches. At the Avenue’s junction with the Avon at West Amesbury stood a small henge which appears to have contained a stone circle (both of which are of uncertain date), and from which the stones were subsequently removed. The construction of the portion of the Avenue stretching from Stonehenge Bottom to the north-eastern entrance to Stonehenge coincides with the path of what appear to be a series of parallel peri-glacial stripes. It has been suggested that the pre-existence of this natural feature, oriented as it is on the midsummer sunrise and midwinter sunset may be the reason for the construction of not only the later Avenue but of Stonehenge itself. At some point in the Earlier Bronze Age or possibly earlier a large wooden palisade situated running to the west and north of Stonehenge would have had a transformative effect on the landscape dividing it up in an entirely new way, disrupting visual relationships between monuments and possibly restricting access to some areas and monuments for certain groups. Later Bronze Age (1600–1000 BC) Some of the round barrows in both landscapes have Middle Bronze Age cremations but no major new monuments were built at this time. Over much of the Marlborough Downs there are Bronze Age field systems which post date Beaker period deposits and on Overton Down pre date a number of Late Bronze Age settlements which then adapted and modified the existing field systems. There is evidence for a diverse range of activities in the area around Stonehenge during the Later Bronze Age including formalised settlements and field systems in some areas of the Stonehenge landscape. Linear banks and ditches, such as those across Wilsford Down and Lake Down, formally divided up the landscape. Although they encroached as far as the Cursus field systems are absent from the immediate area surrounding Stonehenge itself. Iron Age (c 800 BC– AD 43) At Avebury the principal evidence for late Iron Age occupation comes from the hillforts beyond the WHS, such as Oldbury and the more distant Barbury. On the Marlborough Downs the pattern of Late Bronze Age fields and settlements continued into the Early Iron Age and the settlements continued in use among the fields on the higher downland. But while major enclosures such as these indicate a significant Iron Age presence in the region, little evidence of Iron Age settlement or agriculture is apparent in the Avebury area. Likewise there is little evidence for the continued ceremonial status of Stonehenge itself in later prehistory. The farming activities which were practised within the WHS in the Iron 288 Stonehenge, Avebury and Associated Sites World Heritage Site Management Plan 2015 Appendices Age have left little evidence, though an impressive hill fort was constructed near Amesbury, now known as Vespasian’s Camp. Roman (c 43–410 AD) The occurrence of Romano-British artefacts at Stonehenge itself shows that the monument was visited and used at that time; recent excavations have shown that a ‘shaft’ was dug into the monument during this period. However the pattern of these artefacts suggests that Stonehenge was already partly ruinous. Farmsteads and small un-enclosed towns of the Roman period are known across Salisbury Plain. Within the WHS itself, a small Roman building interpreted as a rural shrine has been excavated near to the Cuckoo Stone and a short distance to the south a Bronze Age barrow became a focal point for Roman burials. At Avebury a Roman ladder settlement of 2nd to 3rd century date lay immediately south of Silbury Hill close to Swallowhead springs and the Winterbourne and beside the Roman road running west from Cunetio to Bath. The settlement’s size and location, together with the presence of a series of shafts containing what may be votive deposits, suggest something more than a mere farming settlement. Geophysical survey has revealed what may be either a mausoleum or a shrine of the period. Evidence also exists of substantial buildings and at least one burial on the western slopes of Waden Hill beside the Winterbourne. To the east on Overton Hill rare Roman barrows were built beside the road of the same period. Saxon (c AD 410–1066) There is evidence of an early Saxon settlement at Avebury itself, on the site of the current visitor car park, together with pagan Saxon barrows and other burials reusing the Bronze Age cemetery on Overton Hill. From the late Saxon period onwards there is documentary as well as archaeological evidence of the development of the landscape. Saxon charters provide evidence of the estates which came to form the medieval parishes and identify various features which the boundaries followed or crossed, including the Ridgeway which cuts across the prehistoric and Roman field systems on Overton Down. Green Street leading out of Avebury to the east was probably part of an important east-west route at this period if not before. Evidence for the Saxon origins of Avebury church is still apparent in its fabric. In the late Saxon period the summit of Silbury Hill was remodelled and a wooden fortification constructed, possibly to serve as a lookout post. Amesbury was the centre for a widespread royal estate during the Saxon period, and the abbey was founded in AD 979. It is probable that the town itself grew up around these establishments but little is known of the way in which the surrounding landscape was utilised. However, the remains of several Saxon sunken-featured buildings were revealed at the Countess East site which may have been an early Saxon settlement which later shifted to the town of Amesbury. Stonehenge itself may have become an execution site during this period; a decapitated Saxon man was buried around AD 645 at the monument. It is even possible that the name, Stonehenge from the Saxon stone and heng may refer to this function, or may mean that, to Saxon eyes, the great stone trilithons resembled a gallows. Alternatively it may simply refer to the extraordinary hanging lintels of the Stone Circle. Medieval to Modern (AD 1066 onwards) In the 12th century the alien cell of a Benedictine priory was established at Avebury, probably on, or close to the site of the present Avebury Manor. A documented run of bad harvests in the early 14th century, which resulted in the desertion of the downland farmstead on Fyfield Down, followed by the Black Death later marked the end of early medieval expansion. Marginal arable reverted to pasture and there is evidence of settlement contraction or shift in most of the settlements along the Kennet, including Avebury itself and Avebury Trusloe. From the 14th century onwards the practice of stone burial reduced many of the Avebury megalithic settings significantly. This process accelerated during the post-medieval period with Stukeley recording a period of particularly rampant stone destruction in the 1720s; though archaeological evidence suggests that the destruction may have started as early as the late 15th century. The earliest surviving parts of Avebury Manor date to the mid-16th century. It is at about this time and during the 17th century that parts of the common downland pasture on West Hill, Windmill Hill and Knoll Down were enclosed. Most of the open fields were not enclosed until the 18th century, but a notable exception, still extant, was the enclosure of an area just east of the West Kennet Avenue. Parts of the meadowland along the valley floor at Avebury were enclosed in the 17th century, and at various points along the floor of the valley, at Avebury and around the foot of Silbury Hill. At West Overton and Avebury there are the earthworks of managed water meadow systems some probably originating in the 17th century and surviving in use until the 19th or early 20th century. Parliamentary enclosure occurred in 1795 at Avebury and in 1813 to 1814 at Winterbourne Monkton and the Overton group of parishes, resulting in the creation of large rectangular fields, many bounded by quickset hedges, alongside the more limited areas of old enclosure. The Napoleonic Wars saw a re-expansion of arable, and this became even more marked Stonehenge, Avebury and Associated Sites World Heritage Site Management Plan 2015 Appendices 289 around the time of the First World War and then again after the Second World War when much remaining downland was ploughed up. In the post-medieval and modern era there have been elements of conscious design in the development of the landscape in and around Avebury, reflecting different attitudes to the concept of landscape. This includes the 17th century designed parkland belonging to Avebury Manor and the tree clumps, known locally as ‘hedgehogs’, on the barrows along the skyline of the Ridgeway scarp east of Avebury. In the 1920s and 1930s Alexander Keiller embarked on his remarkable campaign of ‘megalithic landscape gardening’. This not only opened up the interior of the Henge, removing a number of buildings, but also involved restoration and reconstruction of substantial parts of Avebury Stone Circles and the West Kennet Avenue – making them far more visible features in the landscape than they had been for hundreds of years. During the medieval period most of the Stonehenge part of the WHS reverted to downland used for the grazing of large flocks of sheep. In the 18th century Stukeley recorded much of the landscape at the point when arable agriculture was progressively expanding. However, it was the vast expanses of open grassland and the low land values which made the Plain suitable for acquisition for military training from 1897 onwards. Since then, the expansion and reconfiguration of military installations has been the most conspicuous use of the southern fringe of Salisbury Plain Training Area, including the northern part of the WHS. However, the acquisition of the Plain by the military has ensured the survival of huge numbers of archaeological sites and large areas of chalk grassland, as it was not subjected to intensive agricultural techniques. Until the 18th century the extent of woodland around Stonehenge seems to have been minimal. The clumps of trees on ridgelines which we now associate with this landscape were a product of planting in the 18th and 19th centuries. There are a number of listed buildings within the WHS and also the remains of an important park and garden at Amesbury Abbey, which once stretched as far as King Barrow Ridge. It incorporated the planting on Vespasian’s Camp and the ‘Nile Clumps’ which date to this period. Provided by Dr Nick Snashall, Archaeologist (Stonehenge and Avebury WHS), National Trust
Amesbury – including Stonehenge – is the UK’s longest continually-occupied settlement
The dig unearthed the largest haul of worked flints from the Mesolithic period