# The Devil's Den

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{{short description|Dolmen in England}}
{{otheruses|Devil's Den (disambiguation)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox Historic Site
| name =The Devil's Den
| native_name =
| image = The Devil's Den, Clatford Bottom, Wiltshire.JPG
| caption =
| locmapin = Wiltshire
| map_caption ='''The Devil's Den''' shown within [Wiltshire](/source/Wiltshire)
| coordinates = {{coord|51.425678|-1.782651|display=inline,title}}
| location =[Fyfield](/source/Fyfield_(near_Marlborough)), [Wiltshire](/source/Wiltshire)
| area =
| built =
| architect =
| architecture =[British pre-Roman Architecture](/source/Architecture_of_England)
| governing_body =
| designation1 =
| designation1_offname =
| designation1_date =
| designation1_number =
}}

'''The Devil's Den''' or '''Devil's Den''' is a [dolmen](/source/dolmen) [burial chamber](/source/burial_chamber) on Fyfield Hill near [Marlborough](/source/Marlborough%2C_Wiltshire), Wiltshire, England. The chamber is part of a [Neolithic](/source/Neolithic) passage grave on [Fyfield Down](/source/Fyfield_Down). Two standing stones, a capstone and two fallen stones are all that remain of what was the entrance to a long mound, described in the 1920s as being around 230&nbsp;ft long (70 metres).<ref name="Megalithic">{{cite web |url=http://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=1497 |title=Devils Den - Burial Chamber (Dolmen) in England |access-date=11 November 2012}}</ref> The capstone is believed to weigh 17 tons.<ref name="Westwood">{{cite book |title=The Lore of the Land: A Guide To England's Legends |last=Westwood & Simpson |publisher=Penguin Books Ltd |year=2006 |isbn=0141021039 |pages=928}}</ref> The burial chamber was reconstructed in 1921.<ref name="Megalithic" /><ref>{{cite book |title=The Antiquaries Journal, January 1922, Volume 2, Issue 1 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1922 |page=60}}</ref>

thumb|19th century image, photographer unknown, part of collection of glass plate negatives found in the cellar of the Wiltshire Gazette office in 1968.

The dolmen was named after the devil, along with many other prehistoric remains, after the coming of Christianity.<ref>{{cite book |title=Brewer's Britain and Ireland |last=Ayto & Crofton |publisher=Weidenfeld & Nicolson |year=2005 |isbn=030435385X |page=318}}</ref> A local tradition said that if water was poured into hollows on the capstone, a demon would come in the night and drink it.<ref name="Westwood" />

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*[https://www.themodernantiquarian.com/site/25/devils_den.html Devil's Den] at [The Modern Antiquarian](/source/The_Modern_Antiquarian)

{{DEFAULTSORT:Devil's Den, The}}
Category:Archaeological sites in Wiltshire
Category:History of Wiltshire
Category:Dolmens in England

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [The Devil's Den](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Devil's_Den) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Devil's_Den?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.