In 2015, during a Lidar Landscapes survey of the Allen Valleys undertaken as part of the Altogether Archaeology project, a very curious earthwork was recorded just west of Allendale Town. It consists of a large curvilinear earthwork that looks as though it may have originally formed part of a circular or oval enclosure, with the portions to east and south having been ploughed flat. The earthworks were subsequently surveyed and published as a probable Neolithic henge. If this interpretation is correct then it is a very important site. Other possible interpretations have been considered, but this seems the most likely. Henges are open-air circular earthworks with their banks outside their ditches, thus making them useless as defensive structures. They are thought to date from between 3000 and 2000BC, and to have functioned as open air temples of some kind.
In December 2023, BitNE volunteers, in collaboration with Archaeological Services Durham University, undertook a geophysical survey of the site, using three different techniques (magnetometry, resistivity and ground penetrating radar). The main aim of this work was to try and establish whether evidence survived for the site having originally been circular, and whether any features survived within it. The results are inconclusive, though there is a clear suggestion that the earthwork continued to the east. The results, and a consideration of site in relation to other henges known in northern England, are included in the project report.
