Maud Cunnington

Maud Edith Cunnington CBE (née Pegge; 24 September 1869 – 28 February 1951) was a Welsh-born archaeologist, most famous for her pioneering work on the prehistoric sites of Salisbury Plain.

Maud Pegge was born at Briton Ferry in Glamorgan to Catherine Milton Leach and her husband Charles Pegge, a doctor who ran Vernon House, the last privately owned asylum in Wales. She was one of seven children. Cunnington's older brother Edward followed his father as a doctor, and was also a notable rugby player and Welsh international. Maud was educated briefly at Cheltenham Ladies' College.

From 1897, Maud carried out early Rescue archaeology work during development in the area but also carried out full excavations at some of the most important sites in British archaeology. These included the first known Neolithic causewayed enclosure at Knap Hil, the Iron age village at All Cannings Cross, West Kennet Long Barrow, Figsbury Ring, Woodhenge, and The Sanctuary. This last monument she rediscovered as it had been lost since William Stukeley saw it in the eighteenth century. Woodhenge and The Sanctuary were bought by the Cunningtons and given to the nation. In 1933, she was elected president of the Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Society, the first woman to hold that position. In addition to technical reports, she published a short handbook, Avebury: A Guide (1931).

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