Wormy Hillock Henge facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Wormy Hillock Henge |
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A picture of the mound; the henge lies in the left half of the photo
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| Location | Aberdeenshire, Scotland |
| Built | During the Neolithic Period |
| Architectural style(s) | British pre-Roman Architecture |
| Official name: Wormy Hillock | |
| Reference no. | 3278 |
Wormy hillock henge is a small henge in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It is a Scheduled Ancient Monument located in the Clashindarroch Forest. It is a low, circular bank 16.5 metres (54 ft) in diameter which almost surrounds a 6-metre (20 ft) wide platform in the centre. There is one gap in the bank at the southeast end of the henge.
History
In 1891, James Macdonald, thinking that this mound was a "round for sheep", excavated the mound. However, this did not bring any archaeological finds.
Legend
According to legend, Wormy hillock henge was the location of a buried dragon or monster. In the legend, the dragon had been attacking villages in the neighbourhood, and the villagers eventually succeeded in killing the dragon. They then half-buried its corpse and mounded dirt over it, making a mound. This legend is the source of the name of the mound: Wormy hillock henge.
The site
The henge is located to the south of the mound known as Wormy Hillock, on a haugh ("a piece of flat alluvial land by the side of a river", according to the Oxford English Dictionary) in a steep valley in the Clashindarroch Forest. The henge comprises a circular bank, 16.5 metres (54 ft) in diameter, enclosing an oval area 13.5 metres (44 ft) long by 13 metres (43 ft) wide. The bank itself ranges from 3 metres (9.8 ft) broad and 10 centimetres (3.9 in) high up to 4 metres (13 ft) thick and 60 centimetres (24 in) high. Wormy Hillock falls into the sub-category 'mini-henge' or 'hengiform' as it is less than 20m in diameter (see henge main article). The area enclosed by the bank is around 140 square metres (1,500 sq ft), and the average for a stone circle is around 260 square metres (2,800 sq ft).
Inside the bank is a small platform 6 metres (20 ft) in diameter surrounded by a 1 metre (3.3 ft) deep ditch crossed by several causeways. The southeastern one is apparently related to the 1 metre (3.3 ft) wide hole in the bank at the same angular position. This site is similar to several others in Dorchester, Oxon, England. There are two small pits on the bank, and they may be much more recent than the rest of the mound. A large boulder is lying in the ditch right below one of the pits.
Currently, the site is completely overgrown by grass and heather.
