Photos from walk on Thursday 24th October from White Horse Hill

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Even before we left the car park. Hogweed (Heracleum sphondylium) still in flower.

 

And the best autumn colour was right here.

 

Wayland’s Smithy

 

The first monument here, built between 3590 and 3555 BC, was a mortuary structure of stone and wood. After a short period of disuse, this was encased within a second, larger, barrow double its height, which remained in use for about 100 years. The remains of 14 people – 11 men, two women and a child – were discovered in this first structure when it was excavated in 1963. Radiocarbon dating has shown that the first burials were probably placed there in 3590–3555 BC, and the last in 3580–3550 BC.

 

After a period of disuse, a second, larger barrow (now known as Wayland’s Smithy II), with a monumental façade, was built over the top. Built between about 3460 and 3400 BC, this absorbed the older mound altogether. The barrow is thought to have remained in used for burials for less than 100 years. Radiocarbon dating at Wayland’s Smithy II has shown this monument to be a strikingly late phenomenon compared to other long barrows. The tomb was built in the style of older monuments such as the West Kennet Long Barrow, built 200 years earlier. The builders might have felt the need to create a sense of history and to claim a long ancestral connection to this place.

 

It is said that if you were to leave your horse tethered at the long barrow, together with a small coin, then Wayland the invisible elvin smith would magically reshoe your horse while you were away. [source]

 

More Smithy photos in the gallery.

 

Outside, more hogweed and water droplets

 

And a snail. Perhaps it will get to the site in time for Samhain

 

Later, walking back, with Uffington Castle to the right

 

Up on the castle ramparts with a kestrel

 

Looking north over the White Horse

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