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England
Conygar HillRound Barrow(s)
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A pair of large bowl barrows on the ridge of a low hill. These are quite overgrown with scrub, the western one is about twenty feet high and fifty feet in diameter, the eastern one about a third smaller. Both these barrows were excavated by E.Cunnington in the late 19th century. He found a crouched burial the eastern barrow with a pot and 6 flint arrowheads, these are very fine barbed and tanged variety and are called "Conygar" type arrowheads. They appear to be too delicate for use and seem to have been made for burial. The western barrow contained an inhumation and several cremations. The position of these two barrows seems to be quite important, their placement in the ancient landscape appears to be no accident. To the north east the Mount Pleasant henge is in plain view, also a now lost large henge on the site of the bypass around Dorchester, called Flagstones would have been directly north. Maiden castle can be clearly seen to the west, Came woods and Came down barrows are visible to the south and south west. Now obscured by houses and other buildings, map elevations show that both Maumbury rings and Poundbury hillfort would also have been in plain sight from these two barrows. This pair of barrows are very accessible, they are several hundred yards only from a large housing estate. A public footpath runs straight past them. Although a busy road is only about two hundred yards away noise is minimal and the views from this site are well worth seeing. |
Posted by formicaant2nd June 2007ce Edited 15th May 2009ce |
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When the Dorchester bypass was being built, traces of a little 'hengiform' monument were found at Conygar Hill. This Highways Agency page describes a "strikingly similar" monument at Deep Tye Farm in Cornwall (there is a diagram): http://www.highways.gov.uk/roads/projects/3485.aspx - they found an arc of pits forming a segmented ditch, and an inner arc of postholes. Not many monuments like this have been found - but then they don't leave much trace unless you happen to be digging in the area, so they're good at evading detection. If you can find this document, the details of the Conygar site should be in it: Smith, R J C, Healy, F, Allen, M J, Morris, E L, Barnes, I and Woodward, P J. 1997. Excavations along the 3544 Route of the Dorchester By-pass, Dorset, 1986-8. Salisbury: Wessex Archaeology. |
Posted by Rhiannon4th June 2007ce Edited 4th June 2007ce |
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