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Live and breathe the story of England at royal castles, historic gardens, forts & defences, world-famous prehistoric sites and many others.
England’s Prehistoric Monuments
England’s prehistoric monuments span almost four millennia – from the time Neolithic farmers first began to build using timber, earth and stone, to the invasion of the Romans in AD 43. Scattered across the English landscape are hundreds of these mysterious sites, from isolated standing stones to massive stone circles, and from burial mounds to multi-ramparted hillforts. Many of them are looked after by English Heritage. Discover what they were used for, how and when they were built, and where to find them.
Discovering Prehistory
Can you tell a henge from a hillfort? What was a stone circle used for? What’s the difference between a long barrow and a round barrow?
Watch this short animation to discover the answers to these and many other questions about England’s prehistoric monuments, and find out how and why they developed from the Neolithic period through the Bronze Age to the Iron Age.
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Prehistoric architecture
Learn about the different types of monument and the extraordinary feats of engineering needed to create them.
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Prehistoric Beliefs
What can we learn about what prehistoric people believed from the monuments and artefacts they created?
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Building Stonehenge
How did Neolithic people build Stonehenge using only the simple tools and technologies available to them?
Explore the histories of prehistoric monuments
Follow these links to discover the history of just a few of the prehistoric sites looked after by English Heritage.
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Stonehenge
Learn about the history of this iconic monument, from its origins as an early henge about 5,000 years ago to the present day.
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Avebury
The area around Avebury contains an extraordinary cluster of prehistoric monuments, including one of the largest and most complex of Britain’s Neolithic henge monuments.
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Thornborough Henges
Farming communities built three huge circular henges here about 4,500 years ago, which remained important into the early Bronze Age.
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Castlerigg Stone Circle
Set within a natural amphitheatre within the Lake District, Castlerigg has perhaps the finest setting of any stone circle in Britain.
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Stoney Littleton Long Barrow
This stone and earth tomb, a fine example of a chambered long barrow, was probably built between 3750 and 3400 BC.
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Grime’s Graves
Grime’s Graves is one of only ten known prehistoric flint mines in England, where from about 4,500 years ago miners dug over 400 pits.
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Stanton Drew Stone Circles
The village of Stanton Drew preserves the third largest complex of standing stones in England, built about 4,500 years ago.
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Maiden Castle
The largest and most complex hillfort in Britain, Maiden Castle was home to several hundred people in the Iron Age (800 BC–AD 43).
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Old Oswestry Hillfort
A fine example of an Iron Age hillfort with multiple ramparts, Old Oswestry is one of a dense band of hillforts in eastern Wales and the Marches.
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Old Sarum
Uniquely, both a medieval royal castle and a cathedral were built within this vast Iron Age hillfort, which later lived on as a notorious ‘rotten borough’.
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Chysauster Ancient Village
This Iron Age settlement probably has its origins about 2,500 years ago and is one of the finest surviving ancient villages in the country.
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Carn Euny Ancient Village
This well-preserved Iron Age village has an underground passage known as a fogou, a mysterious type of monument only found in west Cornwall.
Prehistoric sites to visit
English Heritage looks after nearly 60 prehistoric sites across England, from world famous Stonehenge and Avebury to isolated standing stones and mysterious fogous. Search our list and map of sites and plan your visit.
Find prehistoric sites to visitStories from Prehistory
Discover how archaeology has led to new, and sometimes surprising, interpretations of prehistoric life.
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Ritual mysteries at Grime's Graves
What do finds at these prehistoric flint mines reveal about the significance of mining, and the value of flint, to Neolithic communities?
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A Chalk Goddess: Real or Fake?
Many questions have been raised about the authenticity of a figurine discovered at Grime’s Graves in 1939. We explore this intriguing object and learn more about the mysteries that surround its origin.
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Food and Feasting at Stonehenge
Find out what the people who built and used Stonehenge ate, how they cooked and served their food, and the cutting-edge science behind these discoveries.