Wormy Hillock Henge
The Wormy Hillock Henge is a so-called Mini or Dorchester Henge . It is similar to Henges in Dorchester and Oxfordshire in England . It is on a flat stretch of alluvial land on the banks of a river, in a steep valley in the Clashindarroch Forest near Rhynie in west Aberdeenshire in Scotland .
The earthwork is a wall with a diameter of 16.5 meters that surrounds an oval platform. There is a gap in the south-eastern part of the wall. The approximately 10 to 60 cm high residual wall reaches a width of 3.0 to 4.0 meters. The enclosed area is approximately 140 square meters. In the center, which is completely overgrown with grass and heather, there is a small platform about 6.0 meters in diameter, which is surrounded by a one meter deep ditch that is interrupted several times by dams. The southeastern dam is aligned with the 1.0 meter wide gap in the wall. There are two small pits that may be younger than the rest of the hill. A large boulder lies in the trench just below a pit.
In 1891, James Macdonald believed that the hill was a "sheep gate". However, excavations did not reveal any archaeological findings.
Legend
According to legend, Wormy Hillock is the site of a buried dragon that attacked the villages in the neighborhood. The villagers finally managed to kill the dragon. They half-buried it and scraped earth over it, forming a hill. According to legend, this is the source of the name.
literature
- Rodney Castleden: The Stonehenge People. An exploration of life in Neolithic Britain, 4700-2000 BC. Routledge, London et al. 1987, ISBN 0-415-04065-5 .
Web links
- Description Engl. and picture
- Entry on Wormy Hillock Henge in Canmore, Historic Environment Scotland's database
- Description Engl. and picture
Coordinates: 57 ° 21 '48.3 " N , 2 ° 55' 3.4" W.