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WAULUDS BANK

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Fairly well preserved semi-circular earthwork enclosure of possible Neolithic or Iron Age date. The enclosure, surveyed in 1994 by RCHME, comprises a bank and external ditch, with no surviving entrances. It measures roughly 300 metres north-south by 200 metres east-west, and encloses about 5.5 hectares. The western side is formed by a later field boundary, which has truncated the enclosure. The earthworks delimit an area of low-lying ground on the eastern side of the River Lea, which rises from five springs located just inside the northern edge of the enclosure. There have been three separate episodes of excavation at the site. In 1953, small quantities of prehistoric pottery, including four sherds of Grooved Ware, were recovered from the ditch fill. A small hollow outside the ditch was tentatively identified as a Neolithic hut. In 1971, Grooved Ware sherds were found in the lower ditch fill and on the old ground surface under the bank. The ditch also contained Beaker, Peterborough, Iron Age and Romano-British sherds. In 1982, a pit, said to have been sealed beneath the bank, was excavated. It contained the skeleton of a young pig plus late Neolithic flint flakes. The pig produced a very recent radiocarbon date, and may have been associated with a piggery which once existed near the site. Geophysical survey in 1985 produced mostly negative results, although some possible pits were recorded outside the enclosure. The site has generally been regarded as a Neolithic henge-type enclosure, largely on the basis of the 1953 and 1971 excavations, and by analogy with the larger henge enclosures such as Mount Pleasant (Dorset), Marden, Durrington Walls, and Avebury (all Wiltshire). However, the evidence for dating is hardly unequivocal at present. There is considerable evidence for Iron Age activity in the immediate vicinity as well as stray finds of Neolithic and Early Bronze Age date. The earthwork has been scheduled as a Neolithic enclosure by English Heritage.

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[TL 061246] WAULUD'S BANK [O.E.]. (1)

Waulud's Bank is a semi-circular enclosure, to the north of Leagrave Station, within which the River Lea rises. It now consists of a bank and ditch. The bank is much flattened but rises at one point to a height of 8ft above the original ground surface. The ditch is never more than 3ft deep. There are no indications of an entrance.

In July, 1953, two trenches, cut across the bank and ditch, revealed three distinct occupations:-

1. Secondary Neolithic producing Rinyo-Clacton pottery sherds with quantities of bone associated with a scooped-out hut.

2. Late I.A.-R.B. occupation of a minor nature.

3. Hand-made and early glazed pottery occurs frequently showing a later occupation ranging from the 11th c to the 15th c. A.D. (2)

Waulud's Bank is scheduled as an ancient monument. (3)

Surveyed at 1/1250 scale. Archive Acc. No.2204. (4)

Further excavations made by Dyer in 1971, prior to the construction of a dual-carriageway cutting across part of the ditch to the south, confirmed that the whole earthwork was Neolithic.

The ditch was flat-bottomed, 6ft deep and 30 ft wide: no entrance was located.

The inner bank, still standing up to 3ft high, and a turf revetment in front (a single post-hole was found in 1953).

Finds included both Peterborough and Grooved ware and flint implements, also some Roman sherds.

Over 1000 flint implements of Neolithic and Bronze Age type were found in and around Waulud's Bank c1900 (5).

The site is compared to the henges of Durrington, Marden and Avebury (5). (5,6)

Located on a west-facing slope, the earthwork is at its strongest towards the east. This side is terminated at its south end by a river terrace, which, although now, artificially straightened, may have formed, with the River Lea, the western defence. On the NW, across the river, is a short section of broad bank and ditch which seems to continue the north part but does not turn southward through Rotten Wood.

Published 1-1250 survey (1965 & 1975) correct. (7)

Three Mesolithic tranchet axes and one core were found at Waulud's Bank. One axe is in the British Museum, one in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, and the remaining two finds are in Luton Museum. (8)

(TL 0615 2460). In February 1994, RCHME's Cambridge Field Office carried out an analytical earthwork survey of Waulud's Bank, following a request from Luton Borough Council, to assist with management of the site. The earthwork is generally as described by previous sources; traces of ridge and furrow cultivation were also identified in the interior. Considering previous sources of information and the results of excavations, it was concluded that without futher excavation at Waulud's Bank it is impossible to establish a precise chronological context for the enclosure, although the recorded finds suggest that it is more likely to be prehistoric than early medieval. The site has produced evidence of Neolithic activity, but the relationship between this and the enclosure remains unclear; the presence of Iron Age pottery may date the surviving earthworks to the later prehistoric period.

For further details see RCHME Level 3 client report and survey at 1:1000 scale, held in archive. (9)

SOURCE TEXT

( 1) Ordnance Survey Map (Scale / Date)

O.S. 6" 1924-47

( 2) Bedfordshire Archaeological Society Bedfordshire archaeological journal

Dyer, JF 1, 1955 Page(s)9-16

( 3) General reference

Ministry of Works. 1958. Ancient Monuments in England & Wales, p.15

( 4) Field Investigators Comments

F1 FRH 03-JUL-61

( 5) Current archaeology

30, 1972 Page(s)173-6

( 6) Council for British Archaeology Group 9: South Midlands archaeology newsletter

(J Dyer for DOE). 2, 1972 Page(s)5

( 7) Field Investigators Comments

F2 BHS 17-JUN-75

( 8) edited by J J Wymer and C J Bonsall 1977 Gazetteer of Mesolithic sites in England and Wales, with a gazetteer of Upper Palaeolithic sites in England and Wales

CBA research reportsVol.1 (1955)- 20 Page(s)3

(9) General reference

RCHME: Waulud's Bank survey report (1994)

(10) Scheduled Monument Notification

English Heritage Schedule Entry 12-FEB-1998

RELATED MONUMENTS

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Monument Name/No

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MONUMENT NO. 359792
LUTON

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Possible long barrow on Leagrave Common near Waulud's Bank.

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