Wayland’s Smithy

Down from the well-known White Horse chalk drawing at Uffington is the somewhat lesser-known Neolithic long barrow and tomb chamber named Wayland’s Smithy. The site, which features a raised female-shaped tomb with a stone-lined entrance, was in use from about 3600 BC.  It sits in a clearing of quiet woodland, and can be reached by a long path that meanders through the trees. I visited it once on a summer day some five years ago. At the time a friend and I were in the habit of using Julian Cope’s ‘The Modern Antiquarian’ to find all the hidden megaliths on our route wherever we drove. The book is a peculiar one, Technicolored and full of Cope’s own New Age poems and musings, but the content is meticulously organized and serves as an unparalleled resource for the megaliths of England. The book is out of print and difficult to come by. The megaliths, however, are more numerous than you would imagine and make for peaceful and inspiring diversions on any cross-country drive.