Wayland's Smithy

Wayland's Smithy

The long barrow entrance
Map showing location in Oxfordshire
Location	Near Ashbury
Region	Oxfordshire England
Coordinates	51°34′00″N 1°35′46″W / 51.5667811°N 1.5961466°W / 51.5667811; -1.5961466
Type	long barrow and chamber tomb
History
Periods	Neolithic
Site notes
Excavation dates	1962–63
Archaeologists	Stuart Piggott
Condition	Restored
Public access	Yes
Website	English Heritage
Scheduled monument
Official name	Wayland's Smithy chambered long barrow, including an earlier barrow and Iron Age and Roman boundary ditches
Designated	18 August 1882[1][2]
Reference no.	1008409

Wayland's Smithy is an Early Neolithic chambered long barrow located near the village of Ashbury in the south-central English county of Oxfordshire. The barrow is believed to have been constructed about 3600 BCE by pastoral communities shortly after the introduction of agriculture to the British Isles from continental Europe. Although part of an architectural tradition of long barrow building that was widespread across Neolithic Europe, Wayland's Smithy belongs to a localised regional variant of barrows - found only in south-west of Britain - known as the Severn-Cotswold group. Wayland's Smithy is one of the best surviving examples of this type of barrow.

The site's appearance is a result of restoration following excavations undertaken by archaeologists, Stuart Piggott and Richard Atkinson, in 1962–63. Their research of the site showed it had been built in two different phases. First as a timber-chambered oval barrow built around 3590 and 3550 BCE and then later as a stone-chambered long barrow in around 3460 to 3400 BCE.^[3] The barrow is on the same hill range as Uffington White Horse and Uffington Castle; it is also close to The Ridgeway, the ancient trackway across the Berkshire Downs.

The barrow, which is a scheduled monument, is under the guardianship of English Heritage and open all year round.^[1] It has been used as a ritual site in modern Paganism since the late 20th century.