The Modern Antiquarian. Stone Circles, Ancient Sites, Neolithic Monuments, Ancient Monuments, Prehistoric Sites, Megalithic MysteriesThe Modern Antiquarian

Oakley Down

Barrow / Cairn Cemetery

Miscellaneous

An earlyish mention of the area, in volume 1 of William Maton's extremely long titled "Observations relative chiefly to the natural history, picturesque scenery, and antiquities of the western counties of England, made in the years 1794 and 1796." It's interesting to see Formicaant making some similar observations 200+ years later.
About a mile and a half from Woodyates' Inn, we observed several tumuli, or barrows, some of which are extremely large. There are also four circular trenches, each about sixty feet in diameter, and having a sort of hillock in the centre, that appears to be depressed or sunk in the middle. It is probable that these last were used in the performance of some religious or funereal rites, and are coeval with the former; that they are as old as the British times, seems evident from the following circumstance: the Roman road reduces the size of one of them that lay in the line of its course, the bank being in one part incomplete. On the declivity of the hill to the left, there are vestiges of some extensive entrenchments, which afford reason for believing that this spot might once have been the scene of an important battle.
Rhiannon Posted by Rhiannon
9th August 2013ce
Edited 9th August 2013ce

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