Maud Edith Cunnington (''

née A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth re ...

'' Pegge; 24 September 1869 – 28 February 1951) was a Welsh

archaeologist Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...

, best known for her pioneering work on the some of the most important prehistoric sites of

Salisbury Plain Salisbury Plain is a chalk plateau in the south western part of central southern England covering . It is part of a system of chalk downlands throughout eastern and southern England formed by the rocks of the Chalk Group and largely lies wi ...

Early life, education, and marriage

Maud Pegge was born at

Briton Ferry Briton Ferry ( cy, Llansawel) is a town and community in the county borough of Neath Port Talbot, Wales. The Welsh name may indicate that the church, ''llan'', is protected from the wind, ''awel''. Alternatively, ''Sawel'' may be a derivative ...

Glamorgan , HQ = Cardiff , Government = Glamorgan County Council (1889–1974) , Origin= , Code = GLA , CodeName = Chapman code , Replace = * West Glamorgan * Mid Glamorgan * South Glamorgan , Motto ...

, to Catherine Milton Leach and her husband Charles Pegge, a doctor who ran Vernon House, the last privately owned

asylum Asylum may refer to: Types of asylum * Asylum (antiquity), places of refuge in ancient Greece and Rome * Benevolent Asylum, a 19th-century Australian institution for housing the destitute * Cities of Refuge, places of refuge in ancient Judea ...

in Wales. She was one of seven children. Her older brother Edward Pegge followed their father into medicine as a doctor; he was also a notable rugby player and Welsh international. Pegge was educated briefly at

Cheltenham Ladies' College Cheltenham Ladies' College is an independent boarding and day school for girls aged 11 to 18 in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England. Consistently ranked as one of the top all-girls' schools nationally, the school was established in 1853 to pr ...

. In 1889, she married Ben Cunnington. An archaeologist, he served for years as a volunteer, honorary curator of

Devizes Devizes is a market town and civil parish in Wiltshire, England. It developed around Devizes Castle, an 11th-century Norman architecture, Norman castle, and received a charter in 1141. The castle was besieged during the Anarchy, a 12th-century ...

Museum. They had a son, Edward, who was killed in the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

Career

From 1897, Maud Cunnington carried out early

rescue archaeology Rescue archaeology, sometimes called commercial archaeology, preventive archaeology, salvage archaeology, contract archaeology, developer-funded archaeology or compliance archaeology, is state-sanctioned, archaeological survey and excavation car ...

work during development in

Wiltshire, England Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...

. Together with her husband

Ben Ben is frequently used as a shortened version of the given names Benjamin, Benedict, Bennett or Benson, and is also a given name in its own right. Ben (in he, בֶּן, ''son of'') forms part of Hebrew surnames, e.g. Abraham ben Abraham ( he, � ...

, an archaeologist, she participated in conducting full

excavations In archaeology, excavation is the exposure, processing and recording of archaeological remains. An excavation site or "dig" is the area being studied. These locations range from one to several areas at a time during a project and can be condu ...

in that county at some of the most important sites in British archaeology. These included the first known Neolithic

causewayed enclosure A causewayed enclosure is a type of large prehistoric earthwork common to the early Neolithic in Europe. It is an enclosure marked out by ditches and banks, with a number of causeways crossing the ditches. More than 100 examples are recorded i ...

Knap Hill Knap is a surname, and may refer to: * Josef Knap (1900–1973), Czech writer, poet and literary critic * Ted Knap (21st century), American journalist * Tony Knap Anthony Joseph Knap (December 8, 1914 – September 24, 2011) was an Amer ...

, the

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age (Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age (Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly appl ...

village at All Cannings Cross,

West Kennet Long Barrow The West Kennet Long Barrow, also known as South Long Barrow, is a chambered long barrow near the village of Avebury in the south-western English county of Wiltshire. Probably constructed in the thirty-seventh century BC, during Britain's Earl ...

Figsbury Ring Figsbury Ring () is an 11.2 hectare biological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Wiltshire, notified in 1975. It is owned and managed by the National Trust. Earthworks Within the wider SSSI mentioned above, the earthworks of Figsbury Rin ...

Woodhenge Woodhenge is a Neolithic Class II henge and timber circle monument within the Stonehenge World Heritage Site in Wiltshire, England. It is north-east of Stonehenge, in Durrington parish, just north of the town of Amesbury. Discovery Woodheng ...

(near Stonehenge), and

The Sanctuary The Sanctuary was a stone and timber circle near the village of Avebury in the south-western English county of Wiltshire. Excavation has revealed the location of the 58 stone sockets and 62 post-holes. The ring was part of a tradition of stone ...

. This last monument she rediscovered, as it had been lost since

William Stukeley William Stukeley (7 November 1687 – 3 March 1765) was an English antiquarian, physician and Anglican clergyman. A significant influence on the later development of archaeology, he pioneered the scholarly investigation of the prehistoric ...

saw it in the eighteenth century. The Cunningtons bought the sites of Woodhenge and The Sanctuary, and gave these properties to the nation. In 1912, near

Avebury Avebury () is a Neolithic henge monument containing three stone circles, around the village of Avebury in Wiltshire, in southwest England. One of the best known prehistoric sites in Britain, it contains the largest megalithic stone circle in t ...

, she excavated and re-erected one of the two surviving stones (the Longstones) in the Beckhampton Avenue, and one of the stones in the

West Kennet Avenue Kennet Avenue or West Kennet Avenue is a prehistoric site in the English county of Wiltshire. It was an avenue of two parallel lines of stones 25m wide and 2.5 km in length, which ran between the Neolithic sites of Avebury and The Sanctuar ...

. In 1933, Cunnington was elected president of the

Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Society The Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Society was founded in 1853, and is one of the largest county-based archaeological societies in the United Kingdom. It runs the Wiltshire Museum in Devizes, Wiltshire which has the best Bronze Age ...

, the first woman to hold that position. In addition to technical reports, she published a short handbook, ''Avebury: A Guide'' (1931). She also wrote and published a children's guide to Devizes Museum.

Personal life and honors

Maud Cunnington was named a Commander of the

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

(CBE) in the 1948 Birthday Honours for services to archaeology, the first woman archaeologist to receive the honour. However, she had been bedridden since 1947, and suffering from

Alzheimer's disease Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegeneration, neurodegenerative disease that usually starts slowly and progressively worsens. It is the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in short-term me ...

, so she never knew of the accolade. When she died at home a few years later, she left almost all her property (worth £14,000) to Devizes Museum (now

Wiltshire Museum The Wiltshire Museum, formerly known as Wiltshire Heritage Museum and Devizes Museum, is a museum, archive and library and art gallery in Devizes, Wiltshire, England. The museum was established and is run by the Wiltshire Archaeological and Natu ...

). This provided for a salaried

curator A curator (from la, cura, meaning "to take care") is a manager or overseer. When working with cultural organizations, a curator is typically a "collections curator" or an "exhibitions curator", and has multifaceted tasks dependent on the parti ...

to be appointed for the first time. Her husband had died before her.

References

Additional sources

* Julia Roberts
"'That Terrible Woman': The Life, Work and Legacy of Maud Cunnington"
''

Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Magazine ''Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Magazine'' is a county journal published by the Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Society (WANHS), based in Devizes, England. It has been published almost annually since 1854 and is distri ...

'' (2002): 46–62. Via Internet Archive. {{DEFAULTSORT:Cunnington, Maud 1869 births 1951 deaths Welsh archaeologists British women archaeologists Prehistorians 19th-century archaeologists 20th-century archaeologists British women scientists People from Briton Ferry People educated at Cheltenham Ladies' College Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Deaths from Alzheimer's disease 20th-century Welsh women writers 19th-century women writers Deaths from dementia in England