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Scutchamer Knob

Artificial Mound

Miscellaneous

Details of site on Pastscape

Scutchamer Knob (called Cwichelmeshlaew, in the Anglo Saxon Chronicle) is a large mound ten feet high, constructed of layers of turves, on the Downs just south of the Ridgeway on the boundary of the parishes of East and West Hendred. It is believed to be the site of an Iron Age primary inhumation in a barrow and later secondary Saxon inhumations before use as a beacon.

The site was excavated in 1844, which uncovered a range of finds including a stone bead, an iron buckle, horses' teeth and 'large bones' as well as a large oak stake believed to be the remains of a beacon mentioned in 1738. When re-excavated in 1934, the only significant finds were large quantities of Iron Age La Tene I period pottery, all disturbed by earlier excavations. The mound was surrounded by a ditch originally five feet deep, with no berm. The complete absence of La Tene II pottery is believed to indicate that the mound was erected between 300 and 200 B.C. It lies in a small reafforested copse and survives as an earthwork, crescentic in plan, with a deep hollow in the middle and no trace of a ditch. Its situation, high on the chalk downs, is ideal for a beacon.

[SU 45658503] Scutchamer Knob [T.I.] Tumulus [G.T.]. (1)
Cuckhamsley, Scutchemer or the Scotchman's Knob called Cwichelmeshlaew, in the Anglo Saxon Chronicle (5) is a large mound ten feet high, constructed of layers of turves, on the Downs just south of the Ridgeway on the boundary of the parishes of East and West Hendred.
It was excavated in 1844; the finds, scattered all over the site, consisted of a stone bead, an iron buckle, horses' teeth
and "large bones", a large oak stake was possibly a beacon post, mentioned in 1738.

When re-excavated in 1934, the only significant finds were large quantities of Iron Age A pottery sherds of La Tene I period all disturbed by earlier excavations. The mound was surrounded by a ditch originally five feet deep, with no berm.
The complete absence of La Tene II pottery seems to indicate that the mound was erected between 300 and 200 B.C., but its
purpose is not clear (2) Scheduled (3). (2-5)
Scutchamer Knob lies in a small reafforested copse. The mound is crescentic in plan with a deep hollow in the middle and no
trace of a ditch. Its situation, high on the chalk downs, is ideal for a beacon. Surveyed at 1/2500. (6)
Probable Iron Age primary inhumation in a barrow, and secondary Saxon inhumation. (7)
The secondary burials were found with a bead and bronze buckle and are thought to be Saxon in date. (8)

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SOURCE TEXT
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( 1) Ordnance Survey Map (Scale / Date) OS 6" (Prov) 1960
( 2) Transactions of the Newbury District Field Club H.J.E. Peake, H.H. Coghlan, C.F.B. Marshall & J.M. Birkbeck 7, 1935 Page(s)93-102
( 3) Ancient Monuments Boards for England, Scotland and Wales annual reports 1961 Page(s)20
( 4) Berkshire Archaeological Society The Berkshire archaeological journal 42, 1938 Page(s)110
( 4a) General reference Anglo Saxon Chronicle. A.D. 1006
( 5) General reference Peake H. 1931. Archaeology of Berkshire, 164
( 6) Field Investigators Comments F1 JP 27-AUG-1963
( 7) by Audrey Meaney 1964 A gazetteer of early Anglo-Saxon burial sites Page(s)45
( 8) Gazetteer of Early Medieval Sites (unpublished thesis, 2006 by Dr A.K Cherryson)) Page(s)109
Chance Posted by Chance
21st August 2012ce

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