Wayland's Smithy — The Ridgeway
Wayland's Smithy Long Barrow · Ashbury Smithy
Early Neolithic·Cotswold-Severn / Windmill Hill·🇬🇧 Oxfordshire, Ashbury, United Kingdom
About
About Wayland's Smithy — The Ridgeway
Neolithic long barrow on the Ridgeway (c. 3600 BCE) with two phases: early mortuary enclosure and later trapezoidal mound covering cruciform chamber of sarsen and oolite. Excavated by Atkinson 1962–63 revealing 14 inhumations.
Why it mattersClassic Cotswold-Severn long barrow showing evolution of chambered tomb design.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Two-phase construction
- 02Wayland folklore origin
Theories
- 01Ancestral tomb for Ridgeway farmers
- 02Territorial marker on chalk ridge
Theories are interpretations, not findings. The seal above tells you how much scholarly weight the place carries.
History
How it came to be
- Built
- c. 3600 BCE (phase 2)
- Period
- Early Neolithic
- Culture
- Cotswold-Severn / Windmill Hill
- Purpose
- Collective long barrow burial
- Rediscovered
- Modern excavation 19th–20th century
- Excavation
- Excavated
c. 3600 BCE (phase 2)
Initial construction / first occupation at Wayland's Smithy — The Ridgeway
19th century / 1960s
Antiquarian notice and modern systematic excavation of Wayland's Smithy — The Ridgeway
2000s
Conservation and publication of final reports for Wayland's Smithy — The Ridgeway
On the ground
Structures & features
51.5650° N · 1.5940° W · 172 m · 3 mapped features
Cruciform Chamber
chamberCruciform chamber 7 m with sarsen orthostats and transepts containing burials
51.5651° N · 1.5939° WEarly Mortuary Enclosure Ditch
ditchSouterrain-like earlier enclosure ditch 20 m oval south of main barrow
51.5648° N · 1.5941° WFacade Sarsen Pair
facadePaired sarsen facade stones marking trapezoidal eastern entrance
51.5652° N · 1.5939° W