Durrington Walls

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Durrington Walls is a prehistoric henge enclosure monument situated close to Woodhenge on Salisbury Plain. It is a Class II henge and measures around 500m in diameter. Along with the other giant examples at Avebury, Marden and Mount Pleasant in Dorset it constitutes the 'super-henge' group of monuments with a diameter greater than 300 metres.

Durrington Walls was first occupied during the middle Neolithic. Two rings of concentric timber circles originally stood within the henge; the southern circle of four rings of timbers which was replaced by a five circle layout later in the Neolithic, and the northern circle consisting of two timber rings with an avenue of posts leading into it.

It has been suggested that the timbers supported roofs and that the two circles represent large buildings that stood within the henge around 2500 BC. It is also possible that the structure was unroofed. Only post holes remain so we are unlikely to discover the structure of the monument above ground level. Recent excavations have suggested that these timber circles may predate the construction of the henge banks, which have themselves have been found to overlie abundant evidence of earlier Neolithic occupation. This evidence includes what are believed to be the oldest house floors in England.

The majority of Durrington Walls is now owned by the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, forming part of its Stonehenge Historic Landscape estate, and access to the monument is therefore free and open.