- England -

Wayland's Smithy is an atmospheric historic site situated approximately 2km along the Ridgeway from the Uffington White Horse. A Neolithic chambered long barrow, it was once believed to have been the habitation of the Saxon smith-god Wayland.
The name was seemingly applied to the site by the Saxons, who settled in the area some four thousand years after Wayland's Smithy was built. The first documented use of the name was in 955 AD, in a saxon charter of King Edred.


Source: English Heritage.

The perimeter of the site is 185 feet (56 m) long and 43 feet (13 m) wide at the south end. Its present appearance is the result of restoration following excavations undertaken by Stuart Piggott and Richard Atkinson in 1962–63.

They demonstrated that the site had been built in two different phases, a timber-chambered oval barrow built around 3590 and 3550 BC and a later stone-chambered long barrow in around 3460 to 3400 BC.












<< Back to the map of Great Britain

 

© Copyright 2014 of ISIDA Project & Khemit School. All rights reserved.