Although clearly marked on the O.S. map as Ratfyn Barrow, I had initial difficulty locating this barrow. After searching around the area I realised it was tucked away in the garden of a 1930's house. You can just glimpse the top of the barrow over a fence as you reach the crest of the hill between London road and the top of Lords Walk. The pictures here were taken from the garden gate and as I couldn't see anyone at home, I didn't bother to ask permission for a closer look. The side of the barrow facing the house seemed well manicured but the back facing the fence did look a little wild with plenty of Verbascum thapsus (Great or Common Mullein) sprouting out of the mound. An interesting garden feature.
A Bronze Age bowl barrow measuring 24 paces in diameter by 8ft high with no visible ditch. A dog digging on surface of it disturbed long bones, rib fragments and other bones of at least one adult inhumation, possibly two.
The Barrow in good condition though a depression down the south side suggests some attempt had been made at excavation in antiquity or possibly the 19th century.
A mass grave containing the remains of seven skeletons; three adult males, a teenage male and three children, all buried in a normal sized grave. One man died between the ages of 30-45, and had a healed broken leg. Buried close to his head were the remains of three children, one of whom had been cremated. One child was aged between 2-4 years, another was aged between 5-6 and the third was aged between 6-7 years at death, and would seem to have been inserted into the grave at a slightly later date. The remains of the teenager (aged between 15 and 18) and the two men (aged between the ages of 25-30) had been rearranged. Some bones had been placed around the corpse of the older man. The skulls of the younger men and the teenager were very similar in shape and it seems likely that the males were all related. Alongside the burials were 8 Beaker pots, seven of which were decorated all over, six with cord, one with plaited cord. The eighth pot was fragmentary. There are 5 barbed and tanged arrowheads, flint scrapers and flakes, plus a boar's tusk. A rare bone toggle with a delicate central suspension loop was found in the grave.
The enamel on the Boscombe Bowmen's teeth indicates that they may have come from Wales.
Source - Wiltshire Sites and Monuments Record Number SU14SE171
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Posted by Chance
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