 King Arthur's Round Table. Mayburgh Henge can be seen at the top left of the picture |
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 View of the banks and entrance from the central area of the henge |
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The monument
of King Arthur's Round Table at Eamont Bridge is a circular earthwork measuring
nearly 90 metres across consisting of a central raised area about 24 metres in
diameter from which a causeway 3.5 metres wide extends towards the southeast.
It passes over a ditch with a width that varies from 12 metres to 16 metres and
a depth of roughly 1.5 metres then across a leveled berm 7 metres wide where it
joins the 7.5 metre wide entrance through the bank. This bank measures between
10 -12 metres wide and has a maximum height of 1.7 metres falling away to just
over half a metre at it's lowest point. Unfortunately most of the northern part
of the monument beyond the central area and a section of the eastern arc has been
lost after 19th century building work and the construction of the roadway and
nearby buildings, this destruction also included a northern entrance similar to
the one now remaining. The monument itself is the central of three henges that stand in a triangle of land to the west of the confluence of the Rivers Lowther and Eamont, the henge to the south (the Little Round Table) having been all but destroyed and the other, the huge Mayburgh, standing a few hundred metres away to the west. It is interesting that although these three monuments are not in a straight line King Arthur's Round Table is clearly visible through the entrance of Mayburgh Henge and there can be not doubt that the were in some way linked physically and spiritually in the minds of the prehistoric population of the area. Glossary Items: Neolithic, Bronze Age |