Morgan's Hill Enclosure is an archaeological site in
Wiltshire
Wiltshire (; abbreviated to Wilts) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It borders Gloucestershire to the north, Oxfordshire to the north-east, Berkshire to the east, Hampshire to the south-east, Dorset to the south, and Somerset to ...
, England, on
Morgan's Hill
Morgan's Hill () is a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest between Calne and Devizes in Wiltshire, England. The SSSI was notified in 1951 and again in 1987.
Nature reserve
The site is also a nature reserve of the Wiltshire Wildlife T ...
south-east of
Calne
Calne () is a town and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in Wiltshire, southwestern England,OS Explorer Map 156, Chippenham and Bradford-on-Avon Scale: 1:25 000.Publisher: Ordnance Survey A2 edition (2007). at the northwestern extremity ...
, about north of the
Wansdyke
Wansdyke (from ''Woden's Dyke'') is a series of early medieval defensive linear earthworks in the West Country of England, consisting of a ditch and a running embankment from the ditch spoil, with the ditching facing north. There are two main ...
. It is a
scheduled monument
In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a nationally important archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change.
The various pieces of legislation that legally protect heritage assets from damage, visu ...
.
Description
The earthwork is a square, aligned west–east, with sides of length enclosing an area of about ), with a bank of height up to and width about . Outside the bank is a ditch of width about and depth up to . There are three entrances around the rectangle, but it is not known if these are original.
[
There was some excavation in 1909: some medieval pottery was found at the surface, but nothing was found that could clearly relate to its original construction.][
]
Purpose
Enclosures like this are considered to show evidence of agricultural practices, from the Neolithic
The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Ancient Greek, Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revo ...
period to the Romano-British
The Romano-British culture arose in Britain under the Roman Empire following the Roman conquest in AD 43 and the creation of the province of Britannia. It arose as a fusion of the imported Roman culture with that of the indigenous Britons, ...
period; they were stock pens or protected areas for crops. Several comparable enclosures are known in the area of the Avebury
Avebury () is a Neolithic henge monument containing three stone circles, around the village of Avebury in Wiltshire, in south-west England. One of the best-known prehistoric sites in Britain, it contains the largest megalithic stone circle in ...
prehistoric complex, about to the east, which was in use in the Neolithic period and early Bronze Age
The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...
.[
]
See also
* List of prehistoric structures in Great Britain
There are many prehistoric sites and structures of interest remaining from prehistoric Britain, spanning the Stone Age, Bronze Age and Iron Age. Among the most important are the Wiltshire sites around Stonehenge and Avebury, which are designate ...
References
{{Reflist
Scheduled monuments in Wiltshire
Archaeological sites in Wiltshire
Neolithic England