It was a clear day in the early summer of 1925 as Sqn. Ldr. Insall sat at the controls of his Sopwith Snipe and watched the countryside slip past below him. The experienced flyer, who had been awarded the Victoria Cross for his gallantry in the Great War, was familiar with the gentle rolling farmland and as he approached the vast 520 metre circle of the Neolithic earthworks at Durrington Walls, he casually glanced at the recently ploughed remains of several disc barrows which had been almost obliterated by decades of farming. One particular barrow in Dough Covert caught his eye as it appeared to differ from the others because he could make out a number of white spots or holes inside the circle. He glanced to the west and, noticing the resemblance of Stonehenge, visible two miles away, to that of the barrow below him, he immediately decided to pay close attention to this peculiarity on all his future flights over the area.
The days lengthened into summer and by June the darker patches of the cropmarks confirmed the presence of an earlier soil disturbance undetectable from ground level. This was obviously worthy of further investigation, especially as the Squadron Leader's subsequent aerial photography showed that there were indeed circles of holes or pits in the chalk.
Excavations were carried out over the following three years by the Wiltshire archaeological team of Mr and Mrs B H Cunnington and, by 1928, a clearer picture of what was there began to emerge. The site was very similar to that of Stonehenge, as the astute Insall had already observed, in that it was slightly oval configuration with its axis approximately in line with Midsummer sunrise. It consisted of an outer ditch and bank some 76 metre (250 feet) in diameter enclosing several concentric circles of holes, originally intended for timber posts long since disappeared. Unlike Stonehenge, there was no central alter stone although this particular circle had a much more macabre centerpiece.
One and a half metres from the actual centre, the skeleton of a child of about three years of age was exhumed from the chalk, its skull cleaved open in what was almost a predetermined act. This according to experts, is one of the very few pieces of evidence of human sacrifice in prehistoric Britain.
Further investigation showed that the monument, dated at 2300BC, was older than parts of the Stonehenge complex. For the want of a better name the investigators christened the new discovery 'Woodhenge', as this title seemed so appropriate it was adopted permanently.
Woodhenge is signposted from the A345 road just north of Amesbury. Admission and parking is free
To claim this cache you MUST post a photo of you or your GPSr in the middle of Woodhenge on to your log. We will NOT accept a screen shot of just the co-ordinates from your Smart Phone. If you fail to follow these instructions your log WILL be Deleted
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