Description : Wayland's Smithy is a chambered long barrow located near the village of Ashbury in the south-eastern English county of Oxfordshire. Probably constructed in the thirty-sixth century BC, during Britain's Early Neolithic period, today it survives in a partially reconstructed state. Archaeologists have established that the monument was built by pastoralist communities shortly after the introduction of agriculture to Britain from continental Europe. Although representing part of an architectural tradition of long barrow building that was widespread across Neolithic Europe, Wayland's Smithy belongs to a localised regional variant of barrows produced in the south-west of Britain, now known as the Severn-Cotswold group. Of these, it is in one of the best surviving conditions. The later mound was 185 feet (56 m) long and 43 feet (13 m) wide at the south end. Its present appearance is the result of restoration following excavations undertaken by Stuart Piggott and Richard Atkinson in 1962–63. They demonstrated that the site had been built in two different phases, a timber-chambered oval barrow built around 3590 and 3550 BC and a later stone-chambered long barrow in around 3460 to 3400 BC. Wayland's Smithy is along the same hill as the Uffington White Horse and Uffington Castle, while it is also close to The Ridgeway, an ancient road running along the Berkshire Downs. In the early middle ages, the site became associated with the mythological figure Wayland the Smith, from which it gained its name. Since the late 20th century it has been used as a ritual site by various modern Pagan groups. Now under the guardianship of the English Heritage and designated as a scheduled monument, it is open without charge to visitors all year round.
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