It lies 2 miles (3.2 km) north-east of Stonehenge in the parish of Durrington, just north of Amesbury in Wiltshire.

[10] The "Dur" prefix is commonly found in this part of England; the Durotriges Celtic tribe inhabited this area before their defeat by the Romans in the mid first-century C.E.

Also, Dorchester was originally known as Durnovaria, and smaller cities with related names (e.g., Durweston) and locations (e.g., Durborough Farm) are found in this region.

The land on the western side of the toll road is owned by the National Trust, forming part of its Stonehenge Landscape property.

[14] Although there is evidence of some early Neolithic activity at the site, most of the structures seem to have been built in the late Neolithic/early Bronze Age.

A paved avenue was constructed on a slightly different alignment – towards the sunset on the summer solstice – and it led to the River Avon.

[15] At a similar time, but probably after the circle and avenue were constructed, a village began to develop around the site.

One of the homes excavated showed evidence of a cobb wall and its own ancillary building, and was very similar in layout to a house at Skara Brae in Orkney.

[16] It is probable that the village surrounded a large, circular, open area that contained the Southern Circle and several smaller enclosures.

[17] Julian Thomas notes that "Overall, the evidence from the internal structures at Durrington Walls does not show that this was a 'ritual site', for there is no such thing.

A ditch some 5.5 m deep was dug, and the earth used to create a large outer bank some 30 m wide and presumably several metres high.

A large drainage ditch was also dug above the north eastern entrance, possibly to complement the field system.

[20] Richard Colt Hoare noted Durrington Walls in 1810, and observed that centuries of agriculture had left "its form much mutilated".

Since 2003 the Stonehenge Riverside Project, led by Mike Parker Pearson, has carried out annual excavations at Durrington Walls.

[22] Radiocarbon dates of approximately 2600 BC are roughly contemporary with the earliest stone phase at Stonehenge.

Parker Pearson believes that Durrington Walls was a complementary structure to Stonehenge, as evidenced by the similar solstice alignments.

[28][29] In 2015 an announcement was made by The Stonehenge Hidden Landscapes Project that a geophysical survey showed evidence of another monument consisting of up to 90 standing stones buried under Durrington Walls.

Instead, the ground-penetrating radar results revealed a circle of enormous post-holes, not buried stones, beneath the henge bank which had later been filled with chalk rubble.

[32] Two groups of pits, including at least seven that appear entirely natural, were interpreted as belonging to a 1.2-mile (1.9 km)-diameter circle or circuit of large "shafts".