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Giant's CaveLong Barrow
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Visited 20.3.11 I liked this site a lot. Easily spotted from the road and very easy to access via a metal field gate. Three sides of the cist survive along with two large flat stones standing next to each other. The pile of stones mentioned in a previous post has now grown to 15. Perhaps someone is trying to 'grow' a Long Barrow?!! This site is well worth stopping off for when in the area. |
Posted by CARL 21st March 2011ce |
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Another fine long barrow which was a lovely surprise for me today, I totally have my Cotswold Walking friend to to thank for this. Had just visited Sodbury Camp hillfort and visited this longbarrow, which was comparatively close by near the village of Luckington, on our way home. Rhiannon's fieldnote has it covered - a fine long barrow in an elevated position; looked peaceful in the long shadows of winter afternoon sunlight. No evidence of restoration to this one and no English Heritage information boards - just the remains of a chambered long barrow. Large moss covered limestones at the centre of the barrow and - curiously (as Rhiannon pointed out) about five neatly stacked limestones to one side of the barrow. Perhaps some reconstruction work planned for the future - would now doubt preserve barrow for prosterity though in its present natrualised state it has loads of 'ancient' atmosphere. |
Posted by tjj10th December 2010ce Edited 10th December 2010ce |
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It's a long time since I was last here and it wasn't quite how I remembered it. There are some huge stones here. One good thing about the masses of vegetation at this time of year, is that you can spot strangely flat areas that probably hide more stones. But mostly the nettles and the grasses hinder movement and stop you seeing the stones. But it's a great spot, and clearly visited by others as you can tell by the trampling of the plants. It was soothingly peaceful and shaded from the hot sunshine. I sat near a superbly large stone on its edge right in the middle of the barrow. Below it there was an intriguing dark hole veiled by another smaller stone and a spider web. But I found it kind of concerning that there were loads of large flat stones kind of stacked up at the far end. They looked strangely unmossy/licheny as though they'd been uncovered or moved quite recently. Surely no-one would bother moving stones from the barrow? I felt confused. I've posted a photo, if anyone's familiar with the site and can comment. |
Posted by Rhiannon11th July 2010ce |
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What a wonderful site. Majestically ancient and mysterious, with a couple of resident horses who didn't pay me any attention whatsoever. I guess we're lucky that the Victorians didn't take all the stone. It's still possible to make out a couple of the chambers from the stone peeking through the earth, although they're covered in moss and I would guess will be impossible to see in high summer. I loved this site, and will treasure the memory of it for a long time to come. This post appears as part of the weblog entry Wilts and Glocs Loop
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Posted by ocifant27th April 2003ce Edited 27th April 2003ce |
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This is also known as Luckington Long Barrow. It's refreshingly dilapidated and covered in trees, but the stones of the side chambers still poke out of the earth, and around there is a typical cotswold drystone wall of little flat stones. Apparently the ends of the barrow were ripped out for road making stone in victorian times and there used to be an old boy in the village who kept a skull 'for a momento' (Exploring Ancient Wiltshire - George Osborn). It was such a calm place when I visited, only the sound of the rain dripping through the leaves. It did have a real atmosphere and you feel like you're exploring as you climb up onto the mound. My twenty year old book suggests you ask the farmer at Allengrove Farm to the north before you hop over the gate (but I didn't know this at the time honest guv). There are detailed plans of the long barrow in Wiltshire Arch Mag v65 (1970). |
Posted by Rhiannon 10th April 2002ce Edited 6th July 2005ce |
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Six late-4th century bronze coins were found around one of the chambers of this barrow. Now it's always possible that this was the result of a visitor with holes in his or her pockets. And there's also a traditional idea of a 'hoard' of coins, where people stashed them intending to come back. But according to this article*coins of this era have been found at various prehistoric sites... as though they were left as some kind of nod to the local ancestors - perhaps a gift, or a payment for something, or you know, just your vague 'votive / ritual activity' type thing. I suppose one question would be how much were the coins worth? Another thing could be what the coins symbolised to their owners - was having money a flashy thing? and leaving money (rather than leaving a different sort of thing) a way of showing your status to the dead/living, - or was cash just the way their society worked by that time, and the obvious thing to leave? Questions questions. *'Roman Wealth, Native Ritual: Coin Hoards within and beyond Roman Britain' by N. B. Aitchison, in World Archaeology, Vol. 20, No. 2 (1988), pp. 270-284. |
Posted by Rhiannon 16th March 2009ce Edited 17th March 2009ce |
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In the edge of this Shire [Wiltshire] between Luckinton, great Badminton (the seat of my noble Lord and Master, the Lord Herbert) is a place called the Caves; and by some the Giants caves, according to the language of ignorance, fear, and superstition. They are upon the top of a rising hill, a number about [??]. And some of them are (or were formerly) cemented with lime. Some of them are deeper and some shallower; some broader and longer than others. They lye altogether in a row. The manner of them is two long stones, set upon the sides, and broad stones upon the top to cover them. The least of these Caves is four foot broad, and some of them are nine or ten foot long.From 'Britania Baconica: or, The natural rarities of England, Scotland, and Wales', written by J Childrey (1662). Some of it's a little unclear on the scan I read, hence the [??]. |
Posted by Rhiannon 2nd January 2011ce Edited 3rd January 2011ce |
From Castle Combe I took a northerly direction, in order to investigate another fragment of British antiquity, recorded by Mr. Aubrey in his manuscripts. He distinguishes it by the name of Long barrow, which is situated in the parish of Luckington, Wilts, adjoining to the Lord Marquisse of Worcester's parke at Badminton: ["] it is long, and some oakes and other trees and boscage cover it. ["]From Richard Colt Hoare's 'History of Ancient Wiltshire', online at Wiltshire County Council's website: http://www.wiltshire.gov.uk/community/gettextimage.php?book_no=057&chapter_no=05&page_no=0006&dir=next |
Posted by Rhiannon 13th January 2007ce Edited 2nd January 2011ce |
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