 Part of Gardom's Edge enclosure walls within a birch wood - running from upper left to lower right of picture |
|
 Part of the walls within the birch wood 
Cairn with upright stone close to enclosure walls |
This
site was first discovered in the 1940's and subsequent investigations
and excavation by the University of Sheffield in the late 1990's have
shed some light on its possible origins and purpose. Measuring over 600
metres in length and varying in width between 5 and 10 metres reaching
a maximum height of about a metre and a half, this massive line of boulder
and rock delimits a large area of land to the east of Gardom's Edge itself.
It is thought to have formed a seasonal meeting point or ritual area for
the local inhabitants during the Neolithic
and, due to the concentration of later Bronze
Age features in the vicinity (see cairn lower left picture), for some
time later. A theory that the site could have been used as a trading centre
is supported by finds of flint and stone tools while the boulder strewn
nature of much of the interior suggests that it was never a settlement
site. Investigations revealed seven entrances within the walls and evidence
that large quantities of the stone had later been removed to build drystone
walls. Despite this stone robbing and the fact that much of the walls
lie within a birch wood covered in bracken, the site is still impressive
in its sheer size but it remains puzzling as to why the Neolithic population
felt the need to use so much stone to create this monument and one can
only guess at the number of man-hours, or how many years were involved
in its construction. Beyond the southern end of the birch wood the enclosure
walls have been much removed but some trace remains in a low line of boulders
that extend across the fields. The later Bronze Age carved rock lies just to the east of the walls. |
