King Arthur's Round Table is a
Neolithic
The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several p ...
henge
There are three related types of Neolithic earthwork that are all sometimes loosely called henges. The essential characteristic of all three is that they feature a ring-shaped bank and ditch, with the ditch inside the bank. Because the internal ...
in the village of
Eamont Bridge
Eamont Bridge is a small village immediately to the south of Penrith, Cumbria, England.
The village is named after the bridge over the River Eamont and straddles the boundary between the historic counties of Cumberland and Westmorland. One ...
in the English county of
Cumbria
Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in North West England, bordering Scotland. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local government, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. C ...
, around south east of
Penrith. It is 400 metres from
Mayburgh Henge
Mayburgh Henge is a large prehistoric monument in the county of Cumbria in northern England.
The henge is in the care of English Heritage and is a Scheduled Ancient Monument. It is 400 metres from King Arthur's Round Table Henge.
Location
The ...
. The site is free to visitors and is under the control of
English Heritage
English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses.
The charity states that i ...
.
Description
King Arthur's Round Table is a henge situated in a field next to the
A6 road This is a list of roads designated A6.
* A006 road (Argentina), a road connecting Las Cuevas with the Christ the Redeemer monument in the border between Argentina and Chile
* ''A6 highway (Australia)'' may refer to :
** A6 (Sydney), a road connec ...
in the village of
Eamont Bridge
Eamont Bridge is a small village immediately to the south of Penrith, Cumbria, England.
The village is named after the bridge over the River Eamont and straddles the boundary between the historic counties of Cumberland and Westmorland. One ...
, south of
Penrith, Cumbria
Penrith (, , ) is a market town and civil parish in the county of Cumbria, England, about south of Carlisle. It is less than outside the Lake District National Park, in between the Rivers Petteril and Eamont and just north of the River ...
. The northern part of the henge is now covered by the B5320 road and the Crown Hotel, while the A6 road has encroached on the eastern part. The larger
Mayburgh Henge
Mayburgh Henge is a large prehistoric monument in the county of Cumbria in northern England.
The henge is in the care of English Heritage and is a Scheduled Ancient Monument. It is 400 metres from King Arthur's Round Table Henge.
Location
The ...
is just 400 metres to the west, and the fragments of the Little Round Table henge are 200 metres to the south. This indicates the presence of a henge complex and possible
ritual landscape Ritual landscapes or ceremonial landscapes are large archaeological areas that were seemingly dedicated to ceremonial purposes in the Neolithic and Bronze Ages. Most are dated to around 3500–1800 BC, though a mustatil in Arabia has been dated to ...
similar to those at
Thornborough or
Salisbury Plain.
The henge is around 90 metres in diameter. The enclosed area is about 50 metres across; the ditch has a maximum width of 16 metres; the
berm
A berm is a level space, shelf, or raised barrier (usually made of compacted soil) separating areas in a vertical way, especially partway up a long slope. It can serve as a terrace road, track, path, a fortification line, a border/ separation ...
7 metres; and the bank 13 metres.
There appears to have been two original entrances, but only the south-east entrance survives as the northwest entrance has been mostly destroyed by the modern road.
Parts of the henge were landscaped in the late 18th to early 19th century, apparently with an intent to use the site as a tea garden.
The site is in the care of
English Heritage
English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses.
The charity states that i ...
and open to the public.
Archaeology
Around 1664
William Dugdale
Sir William Dugdale (12 September 1605 – 10 February 1686) was an English antiquary and herald. As a scholar he was influential in the development of medieval history as an academic subject.
Life
Dugdale was born at Shustoke, near Coles ...
sketched the remains, showing the two opposing entrances, and also showing that there were two
standing stones, one either side of the northwest entrance.
These stones had disappeared when
William Stukeley saw the monument in 1725.
In 1891, C. W. Dymond produced a comprehensive record of the remains.
Excavations were undertaken in 1937 by
R. G. Collingwood and continued in 1939 by
Gerhard Bersu.
The excavations showed that the ditch had been cleared out and reshaped and the entrance through it made narrower in modern times. Collingwood claimed to have identified a number of structures, represented by
posthole
In archaeology a posthole or post-hole is a cut feature used to hold a surface timber or stone. They are usually much deeper than they are wide; however, truncation may not make this apparent. Although the remains of the timber may survive, most ...
s, and identified a "cremation trench" near the centre of the site. Bersu, however, contradicted most of Collingwood's findings, arguing that the posthole features were not of archaeological significance, and he found no evidence of cremation burning, although he accepted that there might be a disturbed grave.
However Grace Simpson (1998), the daughter of the excavator F.G. Simpson, and Stephen Leach (2019) have queried Bersu's work and largely rehabilitated Collingwood as an excavator.
[Leach, S. (2019). King Arthur's Round Table Revisited: A Review Of Two Rival Interpretations Of A Henge Monument Near Penrith, In Cumbria. ''The Antiquaries Journal'', 99, 417–434. doi:10.1017/S0003581519000039]
In 1988 a geophysical survey was conducted to examine the north segment and the southeast entrance, but the results were directly affected by the 18th–19th century landscaping.
Little Round Table
Little Round Table henge is 200 metres to the south of King Arthur's Round Table. It is mostly destroyed by buildings, tracks and roads.
There is a barely discernible bank on the northern side 30 metres in length, up to 5 metres wide, but only 15 centimetres high.
There are some fragmentary traces of a low earthen bank with some stone visible along the south side. These remains suggest that the site was originally about 90 metres in diameter. This corresponds to the sketch William Stukeley made in 1725 showing a roughly circular enclosure circa 90 metres in diameter with a bank with outer ditch.
See also
*
Arthur's Stone, Herefordshire
Arthur's Stone is a Neolithic chambered tomb, or dolmen, in Herefordshire, England. It is situated on the ridge line of a hill overlooking both the Golden Valley, Herefordshire and the Wye Valley. The tomb dates from 3,700 BC – 2,700 BC.
Lo ...
References
External links
King Arthur's Round Table information at English Heritage
{{English heritage cumbria
English Heritage sites in Cumbria
History of Cumbria
Archaeological sites in Cumbria
Tourist attractions in Cumbria
Henges
Locations associated with Arthurian legend
Bronze Age sites in Cumbria
Eden District