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Top Attractions in Vale of White Horse

Wayland's Smithy

Waylands Smithy is a Neolithic long barrow and chamber tomb site located near the Uffington White Horse and Uffington Castle, at Ashbury in the English county of Oxfordshire. It is very near to The Ridgeway, an ancient road running along the Berkshire Downs. The later mound was 185 feet long and 43 feet wide at the south end. Its present appearance is the result of restoration following excavations undertaken by Stuart Piggott and Richard Atkinson in 1962–63. They demonstrated that the site had been built in two different phases, a timber-chambered oval barrow built around 3590 and 3550 BC and a later stone-chambered long barrow in around 3460 to 3400 BC. The wooden mortuary house mainly consisted of a paved stone floor with two large posts at either end. A single crouched burial had been placed at one end and the mostly disarticulated remains of a further 14 individuals were scattered in front of it. Analysis of these remains indicated that they had been subjected to excarnation before burial and deposited in possibly four different phases. Postholes at one end have been interpreted as supporting a timber facade. The whole monument was covered by an earth barrow with material excavated from two flanking ditches and measured around 20m in length. The later stone tomb consists of two opposing transept chambers and terminal chamber; along with the longer entrance chamber, this gives the burial area a cruciform appearance in plan. At the entrance four large sarsen stones stand, having been returned to their upright locations following the 1962 excavations. It is classified by archaeologists as one of the Severn-Cotswold tombs. The large trapezoidal earth barrow erected over it was revetted with a stone kerb and its material was again excavated from two large flanking ditches. Excavation in 1919 revealed the jumbled remains of seven adults and one child. The site is important as it illustrates a transition from a timber-chambered barrow to stone-chamber tomb over a period that may have been as short as 50 years. Carbon dating of the burials in the second tomb suggest it was a late use of this style of burial, being similar to West Kennet Long Barrow, which had been in use 200 years before. Waylands Smithy is one of many prehistoric sites associated with Wayland or Wolund, a Germanic smith-god. The name was seemingly applied to the site by the Saxons who settled in the area some four thousand years after Waylands Smithy was built. The first documented use of the name was in 955 AD, in a Saxon charter of King Eadred. According to legend, a traveller whose horse has lost a shoe can leave the animal and a silver coin on the capstone at Waylands Smithy. When he returns next morning he will find that his horse has been re-shod and the money gone. It is conjectured that the invisible smith may have been linked to this site for many centuries before the Saxons recognized him as Wayland. The Ancient Britons may have been accustomed to making votive offerings to a local god. In recent years, at this and other ancient sites, such as the West Kennet Long Barrow, some visitors have left objects, including horseshoes, flowers, nuts, grain, fruit, and feathers.

Alfred's Castle

Alfreds Castle is a small Iron Age hill fort, situated at grid reference SU277822, behind Ashdown Park in the civil parish of Ashbury in Oxfordshire . It lies 2–3 km south of the Ridgeway and is protected as a Scheduled Ancient Monument. It has a large enclosure attached that shows as a cropmark. Excavation has shown this to be contemporary with the small enclosure, started in the 6th century BC. The hill fort was established within a series of late Bronze Age linear ditches and revealed much evidence for occupation within it. In the late 1st century, a Romano-British farmhouse was built within the abandoned prehistoric enclosure. King Alfred won a great victory against the Danes at the Battle of Ashdown, in AD 871. Being located just to the west of Ashdown House, Victorian antiquaries associated Alfreds Castle with the Kings troop movements before the battle. The exact site of Alfreds battle has not yet been determined, however, so is a matter for debate. The most likely sites are near Compton and Aldworth in Berkshire. Excavations were carried out at Alfreds Castle from 1998-2000 by archaeologists from Oxford University, and post-excavation analysis is still ongoing.

Thames Path

The Thames Path is a National Trail, first proposed in 1948 opened in 1996, following the length of the River Thames from its source near Kemble in Gloucestershire to the Thames Barrier at Charlton. It is about 184 miles long. The entire length of the path can be walked, and some parts cycled. Most of the path uses the original towpath but in some places this is not possible. The main reason for this is that towpath traffic used to cross the river at several points using ferries, but apart from Shepperton to Weybridge Ferry these no longer operate. This means that in several places such as Shiplake, Whitchurch-on-Thames and Moulsford, there are diversions away from the towpath. At other places, there are replacement connections. An example of this is at Hurley, where the Temple Footbridge was built in 1989. Some parts of the Thames Path, particularly those west of Oxford, are subject to flooding during the winter months. The river is tidal downstream from Teddington Lock, and parts of the path may be underwater if there is a particularly high tide. The Thames Path Cycle Route is a mapped route that follows the river between Putney Bridge in the west and Greenwich in the east. This follows the majority of the Thames Path, but does divert in various sections, especially where the Path follows a footpath only route. It also links National Cycle Route 1 with National Cycle Route 4 .

Hackpen

Hackpen, Warren & Gramp's Hill Downs is a Site of Special Scientific Interest in Letcombe Bassett in Oxfordshire, England. It is composed of three separate sloping areas of unimproved chalk downland, representing a type of habitat now uncommon in the Berkshire Downs. It was formerly notified as Hackpen Hill and Crowhole Bottom. Eleven species of butterfly have been recorded, including chalkhill blue, brown argus and marbled white. The site has extensive views over rolling countryside. Gramp's Hill Down is the most easterly area, and the closest to Letcombe Bassett. The main grass is upright brome, and it has a rich variety of herbs, including yellow rattle, chalk milkwort and kidney vetch. The eastern half of the central area, Warren Down, is also dominated by upright brome, with herbs including bulbous butteercup and salad burnet. The main grass in the western half is meadow grass, with bare patches and rabbit damaged areas which have been colonised by plants of disturbed ground such as henbane. At the western end is Hackpen Down, the largest part of the site, which has a wide variety of aspects and gradients. The main grass is red fescue, and herbs include horseshoe vetch and common rockrose. A narrow strip to the east contains hawthorns and elder scrub.
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