I set off optimistically after these stones, hoping that things so sizeable would be easily spotted. I was wrong. It didn't help that I didn't bring the notes below with me.
It would certainly have been a good spot - high on the hill overlooking the river valley below. But now it's a sprawling housing estate which has lost its shine. It was muggy and uncomfortable, and people do give you funny looks when you're staring in their gardens in a cul-de-sac. I suppose I could have asked for help but I could just imagine the blank expressions so didn't have the heart. Perhaps the stones are still here somewhere. If you're ever in Frome please take a look. I want them to be here. I don't want to think that people would get rid of their stones - you'd think they'd make a nice landscaping feature. This was disappointing.
.. I would not like to say that the stones [at Orchardleigh ] are in their original position. Such stones have been sometimes moved and erected as monoliths. We have one example of this in the immediate neighbourhood. It may not be generally known, but in the garden of Fromefield House, little more than a mile distant from this spot, there stands a stone of large size, and had it not been for the brief note in the diary of a young girl written at the beginning of the last century, the history of this stone would have been lost.
The facts of the case are briefly as follows: During the laying out of the garden a large mound was removed, and at the base of it was found the tone in question covering five walled compartments containing skeletons and pottery. The bones were allowed to remain intact, but the ground was levelled and the large cover-stone erected upright over the site.
From the Proceedings of the Somerset Archaeological and Natural History Society for 1911 (v57).
When the early 19th century inhabitants of Fromefield House decided they wanted their garden extending, they had to level a barrow that was inconsiderately in their way. The process wasn't well recorded but apparently five skeletons were discovered amongst limestone slabs (which were no doubt once the chambers of the barrow). Excavations in the 1960s found traces of up to 15 people interred at the site. Sherds of Neolithic pottery were also found – these are apparently now in Taunton Museum. The area has now been built on: the site of the barrow is now located under 14 Leystone Close.
The longbarrow might have been destroyed but you can still see some of the stones - or can you? At one point, one of the larger stones was put upright – about 6 foot tall, and was under a beech tree by the drive leading to Leystones. Two other stones were in the garden of 'Stonelands' (5ft and 2ft) and one 6ft long in the garden of 'Ormonde'. ST781489.