Knowlton Circles

The archaeological features around the Knowlton Circles henge complex were mapped from aerial photographs.  A multi-period landscape was recorded, including Neolithic ceremonial and funerary monuments, Bronze Age round barrows, Iron Age or Roman boundaries and field systems and the ruins of a Medieval church.

In mid-July 1995, the cumulative effects of two summers' severe drought produced dramatic cropmarks in a field of peas covering the Knowlton Circles henge complex, revealing superb evidence of the henges and many other features in their vicinity.  Photographs taken that summer provided the inspiration for an aerial photographic transcription which was carried out in 2001 to accompany a monograph summarising Bournemouth University’s field investigations around the henge complex.  Publication of the monograph is expected some time in 2006.

The archaeological features around Knowlton span several millennia, from the Neolithic to the Medieval periods.  The earliest and latest, the henge complex and the ruins of a Medieval church, represent ritual and funerary monuments, while Iron Age or Roman boundaries and field systems indicate a Later Prehistoric agricultural landscape.

Four henge monuments – the Church Circle, the South Circle, the North Circle and the Old Churchyard – provide a focal point for the Neolithic ceremonial and funerary landscape.  The aerial photographic survey identified many plough levelled details of the central monuments, as well as additional features – three possible mortuary enclosures, a possible long barrow and an intriguing pair of parallel ditches reminiscent of a small cursus – which may belong to the Neolithic period.

Burial mounds dominate the Bronze Age phase at Knowlton – 178 round barrows were recorded by the aerial photographic survey, and it is likely that more existed in antiquity.  The round barrows are distributed along the North-west facing slopes overlooking the River Allen, with slightly higher concentrations towards the North and South ends of the survey area.

A handful of possible square barrows and other small structures suggest the continued ceremonial and funerary use of the landscape into the Iron Age and Roman periods, although Later Prehistory at Knowlton is principally characterised by agricultural and domestic features.  Several long linear features, mainly defined by ditches, form a rough grid pattern which extends over the whole survey area and suggests a series of land divisions or boundaries.  Traces of two compact field systems appear to fit within the boundary pattern in the area to the South of the henge complex.

The Medieval period is represented by the ruins of a 12th century church which stand at the centre of the Church Circle, surrounded by a sub-rectangular enclosure which fits closely within the inner ditch of the henge.  The enclosure appears to be a churchyard boundary, and is probably also Medieval in date, but could be later.

Detailed archaeological investigations have so far focused on the henges and the larger round barrows.  The interpretation and chronology suggested for features recorded solely from aerial photographs is based on widely accepted morphological criteria, but has yet to be confirmed by material evidence.  Further research and field analysis is required to test1 and refine the hypotheses derived from the aerial photographic evidence.