Some of the barrows here are easy to see as they line up in a field, but the wood hides many more. Fat chance of seeing the latter today though, as it was all I could do to remain upright. The snow amusingly obscures all the dips containing freezing water and slippery leaves -hilarious.
The geology's a bit weird here. I visited on the pretext of sampling some acidic soil, which isn't that easy to find in this part of the world. And it turns out there is igneous rock here, andesite, which is quarried a bit further along the ridge. It's not really what I expected in Somerset. I wonder if the prehistoric types that frequented the ridge were able to use it.
Anyway all the be-wooded barrows and earthworks will just have to wait until spring. But there's a great view from up here, especially in today's snow. Glastonbury Tor looked cool.
Shepton Mallet (Ashwick or Doulting parish to north): one of the barrows on Beacon Hill is said to contain a golden coffin. Somerset Year Book (1933), 107.
Reported on p31 of
Barrow Treasure, in Fact, Tradition, and Legislation
L. V. Grinsell
Folklore, Vol. 78, No. 1. (Spring, 1967), pp. 1-38.
In 1514 John and Agnes Panter of Doulting were accused of resorting annually on the Eve of St John the Baptist's Day to Mendip to consult with demons. The part of Mendip in Doulting parish is Beacon Hill, crowned with a notable group of barrows, extending westward into the adjoining parish of Ashwick. It seems reasonable to suspect that the Panters were 'communing' with spirits supposedly residing in these barrows.
L V Grinsell, in 'Somerset Barrows - revisions 1971-87', v131 (1987) of Som Arch Nat Hist.
Last week, as Mr. Rugg, of Lapwing farm, in the parish of Shepton Mallet, between Oakhill and the former place, was digging over a tumulus, in order to cart away the earth, he came to some stones, in removing which he discovered a few sepulchral urns, of very rude workmanship, containing bones and ashes. In digging further he discovered more, in all 12 or 14. The farm is situated on what is called the Beacon, and in the vicinity of some very extensive and ancient Roman entrenchments, called Masbury camp. There are several other tumuli near the one above mentioned, which, in all probability, contain similar relics.
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