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Round Barrow(s)
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These are two bowl barrows on top of the west-east ridge of chalk running between Winchester and King's Somborne. They are quite a decent size for this modest district and fairly well preserved by being in woodland for a long time. There used to be two distinct groups of bowl and disc barrows downhill to the north, all now sadly gone under the plough. The eastern one is next to a bridleway called Burrow Road, which probably took its name from the barrow (beorh). The western one is given the name Robin Hood's Butt by Hampshire Treasures. They are just over a kilometre apart but are so similar in size and position in the landscape that if they weren't constructed at around the same time, then one must have been modelled on the other. The grid ref I've given is for old Robin's Butt, which is easy to find if you are passing through in a hurry or can't get far from a car park through narrow footpaths. There is a small car park next door; facing away from the road, go right through the trees and on the other side of an old line of beeches is the barrow. It is about 20m diameter and 2m high, dimpled from excavation, and with a slight trace of ditch round the outside. There may even have been a bit of a narrow berm but it's hard to tell with big trees up close. When I visited there was a little vase of plastic flowers on top "in loving memory". Not a bad place to become a secondary Space Age cremation. But(t) its proximity to the car park meant I also found several broken beer bottles and one lens out of someone's sunglasses. This could be rich pickings for the 5000CE excavators (actually I tried to remove the rubbish as best I could without a trusty Sainsbury's bag).
Hants Treasures also claims there are two at the Burrow Road location (SU424295) but I've only seen one; maybe the other is still deeply overgrown. There is a Forestry Commission-signposted gravel road (with locked gate) going north into the wood off Sarum Road. Walk up that and just before it turns a little right, look on your right and through the trees you will spot a clearing full of barrow. I make the Burrow Road mound to be about 35m diameter and 3m high, and is dimpled on top from excavation.
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Posted by UncleRob
24th August 2008ce
Edited 24th August 2008ce
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