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List of prehistoric structures in Great Britain facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts

Britain is home to many amazing places left behind by people who lived here thousands of years ago. These are called prehistoric sites because they were built before history was written down. They come from different periods: the Stone Age, the Bronze Age, and the Iron Age. Some of the most famous sites are in Wiltshire, like Stonehenge and Avebury. These special places are so important that they are protected as a World Heritage Site. They help us learn about how ancient people lived, worked, and even buried their dead.

Amazing Ancient Places in Britain

People in prehistoric Britain built all sorts of structures. Some were for living, some for farming, and many were for burying their dead. Others were for special ceremonies or even for defending themselves.

Ancient Homes and Forts

People in prehistoric times needed places to live and protect themselves. They built different kinds of settlements and strongholds.

Farming and Living Areas

  • Grime's Graves: This is a huge complex of Neolithic (New Stone Age) flint mining pits. Ancient people dug deep here to find flint, which they used to make tools.
  • The Ridgeway: An ancient trackway that people used to travel across the land for thousands of years.
  • Sweet Track: An old causeway built in the Bronze Age to cross marshy land. It's one of the oldest engineered roads found in Britain!
  • Tarr Steps: A unique clapper bridge from the late Bronze Age, made of large flat stones.
  • Great Orme: In the Bronze Age, people mined copper here. There's also an Iron Age hill fort nearby.
  • Skara Brae: A very well-preserved Stone Age village in Orkney, Scotland. You can still see the stone houses and furniture!
  • Chysauster Ancient Village: An ancient village in Cornwall with stone-built houses from the Iron Age.
  • Glastonbury Lake Village: An Iron Age village built on stilts in a marshy area.

Strong Hill Forts

Hill forts were large, strong settlements built on hills. They were usually surrounded by huge ditches and banks of earth to protect the people inside. They were often used during the Iron Age.

  • Maiden Castle: One of the largest and most impressive Iron Age hill forts in Britain. It has huge earthworks.
  • Danebury: Another famous Iron Age hill fort in Hampshire, where archaeologists have learned a lot about daily life.
  • Uffington Castle: An Iron Age hill fort near the famous Uffington White Horse.
  • Cadbury Castle: A large Iron Age hill fort that some legends connect to King Arthur.
  • Old Sarum: This site was an Iron Age hill fort and also had a Neolithic settlement.

Other Defenses

  • Broch of Mousa: A tall, round stone tower called a broch, found in Scotland. Brochs were strong defensive homes.
  • Dun Carloway: Another impressive broch in Scotland, showing how clever ancient builders were.
  • Wansdyke: A long, ancient earthwork (a bank and ditch) that stretched across parts of England. Its exact purpose is still debated, but it was likely a defensive boundary.

Mysterious Stone Circles and Henges

Many prehistoric sites are about ceremonies or marking important places.

Henges and Stone Circles

A Henge is a special type of circular earthwork, usually with a ditch inside a bank. Often, stone circles or timber circles were built inside them.

  • Stonehenge: The most famous prehistoric monument in Britain! It's a huge circle of standing stones, built over many centuries. It was likely used for ceremonies, perhaps linked to the sun and seasons.
  • Avebury: An enormous Neolithic henge with several large stone circles inside it. It's even bigger than Stonehenge!
  • Ring of Brodgar: A beautiful Neolithic henge and stone circle in Orkney, Scotland.
  • Woodhenge: A Neolithic henge that originally held a large timber (wooden) circle, similar in purpose to Stonehenge.
  • Callanish Stones: A stunning group of standing stones and a stone circle on the Isle of Lewis in Scotland.

Other Stone Monuments

  • Mên-an-Tol: A mysterious standing stone in Cornwall with a hole through its middle. People believe it might have had healing powers.
  • Rudston Monolith: The tallest standing stone in Britain, found in Yorkshire.

Ancient Burial Places

Many prehistoric structures were built to bury the dead. These range from simple mounds to complex stone tombs.

Long Barrows and Chambered Tombs

Round Barrows and Cairns

  • Duggleby Howe: A very large round barrow (a circular mound of earth) from the Neolithic period.
  • Maeshowe: A fantastic Neolithic chambered cairn (a mound of stones) and passage grave in Orkney, Scotland. It's famous for its amazing stonework and Viking carvings.
  • Clava cairn: Bronze Age circular chamber tomb cairns found in Scotland.
  • Dartmoor kistvaens: These are small burial tombs or cists (stone boxes) found in Dartmoor in Devon.

Other Cool Discoveries

Some prehistoric sites are unique and don't fit neatly into other categories.

Hill Figures

  • Uffington White Horse: A giant, ancient figure of a horse carved into a chalk hillside. It's from the Bronze Age and is a truly amazing piece of ancient art.
  • Long Man of Wilmington: Another large hill figure, but its age is uncertain.

Structures of Unknown Purpose

  • Silbury Hill: The tallest prehistoric man-made mound in Europe! It's a huge chalk hill, but archaeologists still don't know exactly why it was built.
  • Seahenge: A Bronze Age timber monument found on a beach. It was a circle of wooden posts with an upturned tree stump in the middle, possibly for ceremonies.

See also

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