Wayland's Smithy, Oxfordshire

Wayland's Smithy is a Neolithic long barrow and chamber tomb site located near the Uffington White Horse, dating from around 3700BC.

The wooden mortuary house mainly consisted of a paved stone floor with two large posts at either end. A single crouched burial was found one end and the mostly disarticulated remains of another fourteen individuals were scattered around it. Analysis of these remains indicated that they had been subjected to excarnation prior to burial and deposited in possibly four different phases. The other stone tomb consists of two opposing transept chambers and terminal chamber, along with the longer entrance chamber giving the burial area a cruciform appearance. It is classified by archaeologists as one of the Severn-Cotswold tombs. Excavation in 1919 revealed the burials of 7 adults and one child.

The site is important as it illustrates the transition from timber chambered barrows to stone chamber tombs over a period which may have been as short as 50 years.

Wayland's Smithy is one of many prehistoric sites associated with Wayland, a Germanic smith-god. According to legend, a traveller whose horse has lost a shoe can leave the animal and a silver coin on the capstone at Wayland's Smithy. When he returns next morning he will find that his horse has been re-shod and the money gone.

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Any reasonable time

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Admission is free.

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Telephone: 0870 333 1181

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