The Devil's Den or Devil's Den is a

dolmen A dolmen () or portal tomb is a type of single-chamber megalithic tomb, usually consisting of two or more upright megaliths supporting a large flat horizontal capstone or "table". Most date from the early Neolithic (40003000 BCE) and were somet ...

burial chamber A chamber tomb is a tomb for burial used in many different cultures. In the case of individual burials, the chamber is thought to signify a higher status for the interred than a simple grave. Built from rock or sometimes wood, the chambers could a ...

on Fyfield Hill near

Marlborough Marlborough may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Marlborough, Wiltshire, England ** Marlborough College, public school * Marlborough School, Woodstock in Oxfordshire, England * The Marlborough Science Academy in Hertfordshire, England Austral ...

, Wiltshire, England. The chamber is part of a neolithic passage grave on

Fyfield Down Fyfield Down () is part of the Marlborough Downs, about north of the village of Fyfield, Wiltshire. The down is a 325.3 hectare biological and geological Site of Special Scientific Interest, notified in 1951. The down has the best assemblage o ...

. Two standing stones, a capstone and two fallen stones are all that remain of what was the entrance to a long mound, described in the 1920s as being around 230 ft long (70 metres). The capstone is believed to weigh 17 tons. The burial chamber was reconstructed in 1921. The dolmen was named after the devil, along with many other prehistoric remains, after the coming of Christianity. A local tradition said that if water was poured into hollows on the capstone, a demon would come in the night and drink it.

References

External links

Devil's Den
at

The Modern Antiquarian ''The Modern Antiquarian: A Pre-Millennial Odyssey Through Megalithic Britain'' is a guide book written by Julian Cope, published in 1998. It is written as a travelogue of British megalithic sites, including Stonehenge and Avebury. Types of art ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Devil's Den, The Archaeological sites in Wiltshire History of Wiltshire Dolmens in England