Knowlton Circles

The Knowlton Circles are Henge monuments and are located southwest of Cranborne and west of the B3078 road in the county of Dorset in England ( OSGB - SU 02 09).

Discovery and excavation

1995 were discovered after a dry summer on aerial photographs in a pea field vegetation anomalies that indicate human intervention into the ground. These were the big Knowlton Henge. The oldest human activities are being displayed on a large henge and the last are the ruins of a medieval church, which stands in the so-called " church group". The monuments date from the ( Neolithic, Bronze and Iron Age, the Roman period and the Middle Ages. Photographs were in 2001 from Bournemouth University, who was busy with the investigations of the complex, summarized in a monograph. Archaeological excavations focus so far on the Henges and the largest round hills of Dorset.

Stone Age

The four Neolithic Hengemonumente are:

• The church circle,
• The northern district,
• The south circle (220 m diameter)
• The circle of the old cemetery

The aerial photographs also show now leveled findings. Three may have cemeteries, one a Long Barrow. Parallel trenches bildem a small Cursus.

Bronze age

The 178 discovered by aerial photography grave mound of Knowlton are round hill of the Bronze Age. They are located on the northwest slope overlooking the River Allen and show increased concentrations of both ends of the range.

Iron Age and Roman

Some structures may have been long hill. She and other smaller structures suggest the continuation of the use of the site for ceremonial and sepulchral use during the Iron Age and the Roman period.

Middle Ages

A church from the 12th century is the focus of the church circle. The trench of the Henge seems to mark the boundary of a medieval cemetery, but could also come from recently. The village of Knowlton was abandoned in 1485, when the bubonic plague had carried off the inhabitants. The church was abandoned in 1747.