Attractions and Places To See around Marden - Top 20

Lovely white horse x

The Path: The formal Wansdyke Path is a long-distance walking route that primarily follows the impressive East Wansdyke in Wiltshire. ​Route: It typically runs for about 13 miles (21 km) between Marlborough and Morgan's Hill. ​Experience: Walking the path offers a spectacular experience, with sections that allow you to walk along the top of the impressive bank, providing commanding views over the surrounding Marlborough Downs and Pewsey Vale. ​Connectivity: Parts of the Wansdyke Path coincide with other regional walking routes, such as the White Horse Trail and the Wessex Ridgeway.

The Wansdyke is traditionally divided into two main parts: ​East Wansdyke: The most impressive and best-preserved section, running between Savernake Forest near Marlborough and Morgan's Hill in Wiltshire. ​West Wansdyke: A less substantial section running from Monkton Combe (south of Bath) to the hill fort of Maes Knoll (south of Bristol). ​Middle Section: The section connecting the two is often marked by the line of the old London to Bath Roman road.

​Dating and Purpose: It is generally believed to be post-Roman (late Roman or sub-Roman, possibly 5th or 6th century AD) and was likely built by the native Britons as a defensive measure against the expanding Anglo-Saxons.

​A series of early medieval defensive linear earthworks consisting of a large bank and a deep ditch. The ditch generally faces north, suggesting it was built as a defence against invaders coming from the north. ​Location: The Wansdyke runs in an east-west direction through the West Country of England, stretching across parts of Wiltshire and Somerset. ​Name Origin: Its name, Wansdyke, is thought to be derived from "Woden's Dyke", referring to the Anglo-Saxon god Woden.

A well preserved bell barrow, the mound of which measures 22m in diameter and stands up to 2.8m high. The mound is surrounded by a berm up to 5m in diameter and a ditch 0.7m deep and up to 6.2m wide. One of these two bell barrows produced a sherd of Bronze Age pottery and a fragment of a polished greenstone axe, both found by Owen Meyrick. A bell barrow, the mound of which measures 24m in diameter and stands 2.7m high. The berm and ditch which surround this barrow have been levelled by cultivation on three sides but survive as buried features on the fourth. From measurements on the western side it can be seen that the berm is c.3m wide and that the ditch is c.5m wide.

Who wouldn't want to walk into a neolithic burial chamber? anybody? no? didn't think so!!! It was amazing!!! The monument includes six prominent Bronze Age round barrows which form part of a larger round barrow cemetery north-east of West Kennett Farm and west of the Ridgeway track on Overton Hill. This is the site of a round barrow which, despite being ploughed level, will contain archaeological information; the old ground surface beneath the mound and the surrounding quarry ditch, from which material was quarried during construction of the monument, will survive as buried features. The area of the mound has a diameter of 33m; the surrounding ditch is c.2m wide. A bowl barrow, the mound of which measures 41.5m in diameter and stands up to 1.2m high. The mound is surrounded by a ditch which has become infilled over the years but which survives as a buried feature c.3m wide. This barrow has been partially excavated on two occasions, in 1857 by Thurnham and again in 1882 by W & H Cunnington. The primary cremation burial was not located but two secondary cremations were recovered. One was located north- west of the centre of the mound and was accompanied by a flint scraper and a serrated flint flake; the other was situated east of the centre and contained pottery sherds of two vessels, a beaker and an urn, as well as a piece of antler and several bone pins. A bowl barrow, the mound of which measures 42m in diameter and stands up to 0.7m high. The barrow has been partially excavated on two occasions, in 1857 by Thurnham and in 1882 by Ponting. These revealed that the barrow mound contained a crouched skeleton in a grave partly lined and roofed with sarsens. This was covered by a sarsen cairn, itself ringed by a double circle of sarsen stones c.1m outside the edge of the cairn. There was no evidence of a ditch around this barrow. Other finds included a later crouched skeleton covered with sarsen stones, the skeleton of a child, three large urns full of burnt bones and the perforated head of a bone pin. A well preserved bell barrow, the mound of which measures 26m in diameter and stands up to 3m high. The mound is surrounded by a gently sloping berm or platform c.3m wide and a ditch 0.5m deep and up to 6.4m wide.

Adam’s Grave on Walker's Hill in Alton, the most dramatically located Neolithic long barrow in Wiltshire and the site of battles in 592 and 715. The area surrounding Walker's Hill is pitted and speckled with barrows and ditches of many sizes and shapes.