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Fieldnotes
| Met up with friend MM today (something an expert on the Cotswolds) pointed car towards Stroud and the village of Whiteshill; parked up at Shortwood car park just off the Harefield Road. Having read a bit about the Randwick long barrow hidden in Randwick/Standish Wood we abandoned our planned circular walk and set off to see if we could find the barrow. Not an easy task as, having once been quarried, Randwick Wood is the full of small mounds and dips. We had climbed over a few wooded bumps before we came across a metal National Trust information plaque which was actually headed "More Than Just Lumps and Bumps" (I have posted a photograph of this beautifully made plaque as it is one of the best I have encountered). It helped us to identify the Iron Age Cross-Dyke, a 2000 year old earthen mound and ditch, the purpose of which can only be guessed at as either defensive or a boundary marker. And finally with the help of OS Explorer map 179 we found the long barrow – only really identifiable by its alignment of east to west. A Neolithic long barrow dated 4500 – 5400 years old; it was partly excavated in 1883 when human skeletons were found in stone lined chambers. The Cotswold Way runs through Randwick Wood and I have to say it is one of the most atmospheric and unusual woods I have yet to walk through – apparently full of bluebells in the spring. |
Posted by tjj2nd September 2010ce Edited 3rd September 2010ce
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Comments (5) |
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| You'll like West Tump then June. I found Randwick a disappointment myself, the barrow is rather unrecognisable despite being a very large example. Woods are nice though. |
Posted by thesweetcheat2nd September 2010ce |
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Yes, I agree tsc, very hard to recognise as a long barrow - more an overgrown mound. I walked over it; beat the brambles back to walk along it; in the end had to concede this was it. My friend, is a determined map reader and I definitely would not have found it without their expertise. I suspect you know the Cotswolds better than anyone, given that you walk through them all the time. Once again, I find myself walking in your footsteps - your own fieldnotes cannot be bettered. |
Posted by tjj 2nd September 2010ce |
| Thanks June, you're way too kind though. I started to scratch the surface of the Cotswolds last year, but this year have found myself diverted mainly by South Wales (blaming Gladman, natch). I should make more effort to get back out to my local sites - perhaps some Cotswold trips over the winter? |
Posted by thesweetcheat 2nd September 2010ce |
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I found the barrow for the first time a few years ago using a sat nav, and as the pictures show, it was a bit of a mess. Went up there yesterday on a post xmas dinner walk and it had changed dramatically.. a bright green hillock cleared of trees and standing out against the dropped winter leaves and bare trees very clearly. Either National Trust have been at work or a portal to the other world was open! |
Posted by tim50stroud 26th December 2011ce |
| In that case I must try to go back and see for myself. It sounds as though the National Trust have 'restored' the barrow to some degree. |
Posted by tjj 26th December 2011ce |
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