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Maumbury Rings is in Dorchester, Dorset [Map], South England Henges.
Serious Admonitions to Youth. [21st March 1706] After the Under Sheriff had taken some Refreshment, she [Mary Brookes aka Channing (age 18)] was brought out of Prison, and drag'd by her Fathers and Husband's Houses, to the Place of Execution [Maumbury Rings [Map]]. Here Mr. Hutchins and other Clergy continued a long time with her in Prayer, and supposing that Death being now in View, might mollifie her hard Heart, repeated their Exhortations to Confession, but to no purpose., they found no tthe least Alteration. In the midst of her Prayers she was strangely concern'd at the Sight of Mr. Richard Channing her Husband's eldest Brother, and 'twas with some Difficulty Mr. Hutchins brought her again to a calm Attendance on her Devotians. She manifested nothing of Alteration when fixed to the Srake, but justified her Innocence to the very last, and left the World with a Courage seldom found in her Sex. She being first strangled, the Fire was kindled five in the Afternoon, and in the sight of many thousand Spoctmors she was consum'd to Ashes.
On 21st March 1706 Mary Brookes aka Channing (age 18) was strangled then burned at the stake at Maumbury Rings [Map].
Avebury by William Stukeley. The amphitheatre at Dorchester [Maumbury Rings [Map]] is situate on a plain in the open fields, about a quarter of a mile (being just 300 of my paces) or 1500 foot south-weft from the walls of the town, delicately afcending all the way, close by the Roman road running from thence to Weymouth. The vulgar call it Maumbury, but have no notion of its purpose, though it is a common walk for the inhabitants, and the terrace at top is a noted place of rendezvous, as affording a pleasant circular walk, and a prospect of the town and wide plain of corn fields all around, much boasted of by the inhabitants for most excellent grain.
History of Dorset by John Hutchins Volume 1. At Mrs. Channing's execution1, there were supposed to be 10,000 spectators present, who filled the sides, tops and area of this work, which is the compleatest of this kind in England.
Note 1. Mary, daughter of ... Brookes of Dorchester, was married fo Mr. Richard Channing, a grocer, by compulsion of her parents; but keeping company with some former gallants, she, by her extravagance almost ruined her husband, and then poisoned him, by giving him white mercury, first in rice milk, and twice afterwards in a glass of wine. At the summer assizes, 1705. she was tried before judge Price, made a notable defence, was found guilty and condemned, but pleaded her belly. She was removed, and delivered of a child 18 weeks betore her death. At the Lent assizes following, she was recalled to her former sentence, and was first; strangled, then burnt, in the middle of the area of this work, March 21, 1705 [1706], æt. 19; but persisted in her innocence to the last. Tradition reports, that there was a woman burnt in the same place, for the same crime, 100 years before.
History of Dorset by John Hutchins Volume 1. Mambury or Maumbury Rings [Map]
This celebrated monument of antiquity, the first discovery of which we owe to sir Christopher Wren's journies to the isle of Portland, has been since examined with great attention by Dr. Stukeley, who, in his Itinerarium Curiosum1 has given us a very large account of it2, with five draughts of it; but he has sometimes indulged his imagination too much.
The geometrical ground plot of it makes plate 50. [See Itinerarium Curiosum 1724 Maumbury Rings]
A view from the entrance, plate 51.
A view from the S. W. plate 52.
The present appearance, with sections of the shortest, and longest diameter, plate 53.
Note 1. Iter VI. p. 155-168.
Note 2. The Doctor's first account of it, read to a society of free-masons at the Fountain in the Strand, 1723, was printed in 4to that year, with a ground plot, but greatly enlarged in his Itinerary
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Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society Volume 35 1914 Page 88. Fifth Interim Report on the Excavation at Maumbury Rings [Map].
Carbon Date. 2150BC. Early Bronze Age Carbon Dates
Report: Charcoal, id as Alnus over 10 yr old, Corylus over 10 yr old, Rhamnus (buckthorn) up to 25 yr old, spp, id by M Robinson, from Tr K, Layer 3A, secondary recut in top of monument, apparently refilled immediately (similar features on site contain Grooved Ware) at Wyke Down, Down Farm, Cranborne Chase, Dorset, England. Subm RB 1984. Comment (subm): this and BM-2395, -2396 show site to be among earlier henge monuments in lowland Britain and somewhat earlier than superficially similar site at Maumbury Rings (BM-2281R). [Ed: See also comment in second ref below.]
ID: 8891, C14 ID: BM-2397 Date BP: 4150 +/- 50, Start Date BP: 4100, End BP: 4200
Abstract: Single-entrance pit-circle henge
Archaeologist Name: R Bradley 1984
Reference Name: Radiocarbon, 29, 1987, 182-3; Barrett J et al (eds), 'Papers on the prehistoric archaeology of Cranborne Chase' (Oxbow Monogr 11, 1991), 9; Barrett J et al (eds), 'Landscape, monuments and society: the prehistory of Cranborne Chase' (CUP, 1991)
Council for British Archaeology (2012) Archaeological Site Index to Radiocarbon Dates from Great Britain and Ireland [data-set]. York: Archaeology Data Service [distributor] https://doi.org/10.5284/1017767
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Carbon Date. 2140BC. Early Bronze Age Carbon Dates
Report: Charcoal, id as Quercus sp, heartwood by M Robinson, from secondary recut of pit belonging to pit circle henge at Wyke Down, Down Farm, Cranborne Chase, Dorset, England. Subm RB 1984. Comment (subm): this and BM-2395, -2397 show site to be among earlier henge monuments in lowland Britain and somewhat earlier than superficially similar site at Maumbury Rings (BM-2281R). [Ed: See also comment in second ref below.]
ID: 8890, C14 ID: BM-2396 Date BP: 4140 +/- 80, Start Date BP: 4060, End BP: 4220
Abstract: Single-entrance pit-circle henge
Archaeologist Name: R Bradley 1984
Reference Name: Radiocarbon, 29, 1987, 182-3; Barrett J et al (eds), 'Papers on the prehistoric archaeology of Cranborne Chase' (Oxbow Monogr 11, 1991), 9; Barrett J et al (eds), 'Landscape, monuments and society: the prehistory of Cranborne Chase' (CUP, 1991)
Council for British Archaeology (2012) Archaeological Site Index to Radiocarbon Dates from Great Britain and Ireland [data-set]. York: Archaeology Data Service [distributor] https://doi.org/10.5284/1017767
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Carbon Date. 2070BC. Early Bronze Age Carbon Dates
Report: Bone, id as base and shaft of mature shed antler, from post-pipe (W67.4166) at Dorchester - Greyhound Yard - Dorset, England. Subm P J Woodward 1984. Comment (subm) (PJW): This and HAR-6663, 5508 are consistent with each other, & provide date slightly earlier than Maumbury Rings and Mount Pleasant palisade.
ID: 2280, C14 ID: HAR-6664 Date BP: 4070 +/- 70, Start Date BP: 4000, End BP: 4140
Abstract: plan suggesting 380m diam circle
Archaeologist Name: C J Sparey Green 1984
Reference Name: Radiocarbon, 30, 1988, 315; Proc Dorset Natur Hist Archaeol Soc, 106, 1984, 99-106
Council for British Archaeology (2012) Archaeological Site Index to Radiocarbon Dates from Great Britain and Ireland [data-set]. York: Archaeology Data Service [distributor] https://doi.org/10.5284/1017767
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Carbon Date. 2040BC. Early Bronze Age Carbon Dates
Report: Antler collagen, id as red deer by A Grant, from Pit 1, Layer 5, from silt in rapidly filled pit 1 (of 27 in pit circle aligned on Dorset Cursus) at Wyke Down, Down Farm, Cranborne Chase, Dorset, England. Subm RB 1984. Comment (subm): this and BM-2396/7 show site to be among earlier henge monuments in lowland Britain and somewhat earlier than superficially similar site at Maumbury Rings (BM-2281R). [Ed: See also comment in second ref below.]
ID: 8889, C14 ID: BM-2395 Date BP: 4040 +/- 90, Start Date BP: 3950, End BP: 4130
Abstract: Single-entrance pit-circle henge
Archaeologist Name: R Bradley 1984
Reference Name: Radiocarbon, 29, 1987, 182-3; Barrett J et al (eds), 'Papers on the prehistoric archaeology of Cranborne Chase' (Oxbow Monogr 11, 1991), 9; Barrett J et al (eds), 'Landscape, monuments and society: the prehistory of Cranborne Chase' (CUP, 1991)
Council for British Archaeology (2012) Archaeological Site Index to Radiocarbon Dates from Great Britain and Ireland [data-set]. York: Archaeology Data Service [distributor] https://doi.org/10.5284/1017767
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Carbon Date. 2020BC. Early Bronze Age Carbon Dates
Report: Bone, id as frontal and skull attached to antler from mature stag, AML 843338, from Late Neo post-pit (W67.4947) at Dorchester - Greyhound Yard - Dorset, England. Subm P Woodward 1984. Comment (subm) (PJW): This and HAR-6664, 5508 are consistent with each other, & provide date slightly earlier than Maumbury Rings and Mount Pleasant palisade.
ID: 2279, C14 ID: HAR-6663 Date BP: 4020 +/- 80, Start Date BP: 3940, End BP: 4100
Abstract: plan suggesting 380m diam circle
Archaeologist Name: P Woodward 1984 (Wessex AT)
Reference Name: Radiocarbon, 30, 1988, 315; Proc Dorset Natur Hist Archaeol Soc, 106, 1984, 99-106
Council for British Archaeology (2012) Archaeological Site Index to Radiocarbon Dates from Great Britain and Ireland [data-set]. York: Archaeology Data Service [distributor] https://doi.org/10.5284/1017767
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All About History Books
The Chronicle of Geoffrey le Baker of Swinbroke. Baker was a secular clerk from Swinbroke, now Swinbrook, an Oxfordshire village two miles east of Burford. His Chronicle describes the events of the period 1303-1356: Gaveston, Bannockburn, Boroughbridge, the murder of King Edward II, the Scottish Wars, Sluys, Crécy, the Black Death, Winchelsea and Poitiers. To quote Herbert Bruce 'it possesses a vigorous and characteristic style, and its value for particular events between 1303 and 1356 has been recognised by its editor and by subsequent writers'. The book provides remarkable detail about the events it describes. Baker's text has been augmented with hundreds of notes, including extracts from other contemporary chronicles, such as the Annales Londonienses, Annales Paulini, Murimuth, Lanercost, Avesbury, Guisborough and Froissart to enrich the reader's understanding. The translation takes as its source the 'Chronicon Galfridi le Baker de Swynebroke' published in 1889, edited by Edward Maunde Thompson. Available at Amazon in eBook and Paperback.
Carbon Date. 1970BC. Middle Bronze Age Carbon Dates
Report: Antler, id as red deer (H St George Gray), from bottom of Shaft 1 at Maumbury Rings, Dorchester, Dorset, England. Subm R Bradley 1983. Comment (lab): Is revision (ie new run) of earlier date BM-2282.
ID: 1547, C14 ID: BM-2282N Date BP: 3970 +/- 70, Start Date BP: 3900, End BP: 4040
Abstract: Hengiform enclosure
Archaeologist Name: H St George Gray 1908-13
Reference Name: Dorset Natur Hist Archaeol Soc/Proc, 110, 1988, 160; Radiocarbon, 29, 1987, 63-4 (original, unrevised date Radiocarbon, 32, 1990, 59-69 esp. 65 (revision)
Council for British Archaeology (2012) Archaeological Site Index to Radiocarbon Dates from Great Britain and Ireland [data-set]. York: Archaeology Data Service [distributor] https://doi.org/10.5284/1017767
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Carbon Date. 1940BC. Middle Bronze Age Carbon Dates
Report: Antler, id as red deer (H St George Gray), from sample in highest Neo level of Shaft 3 to have escaped later disturbances at Maumbury Rings, Dorchester, Dorset, England. Subm R Bradley 1983. Comment (lab): Is revision of earlier date BM-2281.
ID: 1548, C14 ID: BM-2281R Date BP: 3940 +/- 130, Start Date BP: 3810, End BP: 4070
Abstract: Hengiform enclosure
Archaeologist Name: H St George Gray 1908-13
Reference Name: Dorset Natur Hist Archaeol Soc/Proc, 110, 1988, 160; Radiocarbon, 29, 1987, 63-4 (original, unrevised date Radiocarbon, 32, 1990, 59-79 (revision)
Council for British Archaeology (2012) Archaeological Site Index to Radiocarbon Dates from Great Britain and Ireland [data-set]. York: Archaeology Data Service [distributor] https://doi.org/10.5284/1017767
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