from 'Berkshire' by Ian Yarrow
'...Cwichelmeshlaew, once described as "the boast and glory of our downs", was for long thought to be a burial-place of Cwichelm, a saxon chief, but in 1934 Mr Harold Peake, after a thorough excavation, came to the conclusion that most probably this was not a burial-place at all and had been constructed for some purpose during the early iron age.' (my italics)
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from 'Berkshire' by Ian Yarrow
'A chambered long barrow was discovered in 1935 br Mr L V Grinsell ... who was wandering among the lambourn seven barrows one sunny september day. It may sound amazing that a barrow 220ft long and 50ft wide should have passed unnoticed until 1935. But the thing was not so obvious as it sounds, for one end of it was ploughed up, and a cart-track and a grassy bank ran across the other end. It was, in fact, pretty well hidden, and it took a "barrow detective" like Mr Grinsell to spot it. The sarsen stones which originally formed the passage and chambers lay beneath the cart-track and had become exposed.'
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extract from 'Berkshire' by Ian Yarrow
'...The camp is so obviously Roman with its oyster shells and rectangular shape that it is easy to forget that Bronze and Iron Age things have been unearthed here and that the Roman oyster shells should more properly be grouped with the bottle tops and ice-cream papers left behind by twentieth-century invaders. Lady readers may be interested to know that here at Lowbury the skeleton of a woman, her skull smashed in, was found buried in the foundations of a stone wall.'
Wysefool says: The last time i went up to Lowbury, there was def some bumps of round barrows there, if they are Bronze Age or Roman, i do not know.
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From David Nash Ford - Berkshire History Website (www.berkshirehistory.com)
'There was a sizable community settled in Compton parish as far back as the bronze Age when banks and ditches were constructed around a settlement which, in the Iron Age, was turned into the hillfort of Perborough Castle. The inhabitants farmed the surrounding area quite intensively and a large number of field systems have been examined on nearby Cow Down.'
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According to L V Grinsell in his book White Horse Hill and surrounding country:
'Between Uffington Castle and the White Horse is an oblong mound which was opened in 1857 by Mr E Martin ATkins, when forty-six skeletons were found in forty-two graves nearly all of which were placed east/west. Five of the skeletons had small bronze coins placed in their mouths, and these were evidently Roman or Romano-British burials, the coins being placed in the mouths of the deceased, after the well known Roman custom, for the purpose of paying the Charon for ferrying them across the River Styx to the next world. The ages of the people represented by the skeletons varied between 1 and 70 or more, and they were of both sexes. Four of the skeletons were headless. One of them was accompanied by a vase of red ware, probably Roman, which is now in the Roman Room at the British Museum. In the centre of this mound there was a coarse urn with two handle like bosses, filled with burnt bones and arched over with sarsens. This find rather suggests the possibility that the mound may originally have been a round barrow which was later altered in shape to contain the forty-six Roman or Romano-British Skeletons.'
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This round barrow was excavated by Martin-Atkins in 1857 who reported finding 9 skeletons. The 1993 dig found sherds of Bronze Age pottery and, a more recent internment, a book entitled 'Demonology and Witchcraft' by Walter Scott and published in 1831. The inside cover was daubed with red ink and inscribed with the words 'Demon de Uffing'. Some damage to the book was evident, although it was reported that the book was in generally good condition. (the reason for this is given as the chalk soil mix).
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'The excavator was confident that the ground around the location of the book's burial had not been recently disturbed, and therefore a pre-excavation joke by persons unknown was ruled out. In theory the book could have been deposited during the 19th-century excavations, but it is more likely that its burial is related to one of the more recent revivals in the mystical aspects of the White Horse and its surroundings.' - Alan Hardy
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This slight oblong shaped mound was first excavated by Edwin Martin-Atkins (local landowner) in 1857 and 1858 where he found 46 inhumantions and a few cremation burials. The site was re-excavated in 1993 and from the findings it is accepted as orignally a Neolithic burial site.
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'While visiting the Seven Barrows the reader should not fail to see the long barrow north-west of the main group, which was found by the writer in 1935.' (found by L V Grinsell)
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There is good evidence that the banks of Segsbury Castle were originally faced with sarsens. The following quotation is taken from T Hearne's Letter containing an account of some Antiquities between Windsor and Oxford (1725) -
...Sackborough Castle (by which name they call certain strange works, or an old camp) on the South-East side of Wantage in Berks, about two miles from it. It is in a manner round, tho' I cannot call it a perfect round. I take it, however, to be Danish. Within the Bank that lies on the Inside of this Camp, or as they vulgarly call it, Castle, they dig vast red stones, being a red flint, some of which a cart will hardly draw. They have dug up a great many loads of them, and with many of them they build. They are placed in the banks of the dike or trench in form of a wall. ... When first I walk'd in those parts, I inquired, where it was they could either dig or meet with such stones? It was answer'd that the like occur'd upon Lambourn Downs. Upon which I concluded, and afterwards found, that they grow upon those downs.
From White Horse Hill and surrounding country, by L V Grinsell
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'....near the scarp foot stands the curious isolated stump of Dragon Hill. This spur of natural rock has been shaped for some unknown purpose in antiquity. Its sides have been steepened and its top levelled to make a drum shape. In the early nineteenth century Dragon Hill was thought to be a built feature such as a barrow, and the Saxons believed it was a barrow too, but when explored in 1852 it was concluded that it was a natural rock outcrop. Its projection well above the surrounding chalk slope nevertheless suggests that it is at least in part a built feature.'
From 'Ancient British Hill Figures' by Rodney Castleden.
He also writes that in the Saxon charters it was named Ecelesbeorg (church barrow?) and
that roman coins were found on the summit.
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'Yet the stone was certainly in its present position in 1761. In 1749 the Atkins family bought the Kingston Lisle estate which they retained until sometime after 1907, and in view of statements in the following poem published in 1855 (NOTE: this is entitled 'A day on the downs' and is described in another post for this site), I am inclined to think that the stone was found on or near White Horse Hill between 1750 and 1760 and its blowing properties recognised, as a result of which it was moved to its present position in front of the cottages at the instigation of a member of the Atkins family'.
L V Grinsell - White Horse Hill and surrounding country
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'The tradition that King Alfred blew through it to summon the Saxons to fight the Danes is probably more picturesque than historically true. It has in fact been sometimes known as King Alfred's Bugle Horn. I beleive the Alfred tradition connected with this stone is traceable to the influence of Wise's Letter to Dr Mead (1738) and the theory which he expounded in that work'.
L V Grinsell - White Horse Hill and Surrounding Country
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'Alfred's Castle, on the hill west of Ashdown, was called Ashberry Camp on a map of Shrivenham Hundred in 1532 referred to in Miller's History of Ashbury, and it was given the alternative names of Alfred's Castle and Ashbury Camp by Wise in 1738. There is no doubt that the original name was Ashbury Camp, and it is almost certainly the camp from which Ashbury was named, which was spelt Aescesburh in the Anglo-Saxon charters.'
Exceprt from White Horse Hill and surrounding country by L V Grinsell
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Horse and Dog Skeletons
Among various finds from the digs at Blewburton hill, the skull and complete skeleton of a young horse was found and part of the lower jaw of an older horse. These were considered rather small horses and compared to modern day New Forest ponies.
The skull and limb bones of of an Early Iron Age dog were also found. The dog was thoough to be of a mongrel type of small size, with an estimated height at the shoulder of 20 inches.
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All images credited to 'W J Hemp' were added from a document entitled 'The Chambered Cairn of Bryn Celli Ddu' by W J Hemp FSA published in 1930, I presume after the digs in 1928/29. (misc post added for reference)
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Excavation at Notgrove Long Barrow (from 1935 Archaeology Report)
Excavations were carried out this summer on Notgrove Long Barrow, in the parish of Notgrove, Gloucs, one of the well-known Cotswold group, by Mrs E M Clifford. The barrow stands at 800 feet O.D. and its orientation is roughly east and west.
The chamber is of double cruciform type and differs from the other three chambered barrows in England and Wales which have two pairs of side chambers in having a considerable area expanded as a kind of antechamber immeadiately west of the horned entrance. The chamber is formed with alternating Megalithic slabs (the tallest is six feet five inches above ground) and dry stone walling. The complete plan has been recovered, the sockets of the missing stones being found besides two hitherto unknown orthostats. The centre of the monument is occupied by a dome, which is a circular structure, twenty-three feet in diameter, formed of large stones faced with dry stone walling which was protected or supported by large slabs in which were the bones of a man.
The two revetment walls were traced from the portal around the horns to both sides of the mound and the inner one appeared to have extended the whole length of the barrow, while the outer one was less definite. Its line, however, was marked by a small sharply defined trench cut in the upper surface of a clay bed which everyone was laid outside the inner wall, and which was necessary on the north side to level up the ground. The whole of the material used is of local origin. The dome, the antechamber, and the horned entrance are the new structural features which these excavations have produced, while fragments of Windmill pottery, a bone bead and pieces of bone skewers were found in the chamber. The lower part of a Peterborough bowl with decoration of herring bone incisions and a gouge made out of a tooth were found in the material which blocked the entrance.
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Notes on Excavations during 1935
Hembury Fort 1935.
The 5th season of the D.A.E.S. Excavations at Hembury Fort, Devon, carried out in May under the direction of Miss Liddell FSA, saw the uncovering of the eastern Early Iron Age Entrance practically completed. In contrast to the western Entrance this had no revetment posts, but relied on more complicated palisade work. There were 60 feet of cobbled roadway leading through an elaborate gateway, and wooden structures represented by the sockets and cores of 18 posts set in two huge pits. The iron shoe upon which one gate revolved was found in one post-hole, and ornamented 'Glastonbury' type pottery from some others now dates the building of the main ramparts.
Numerous Neolithic cooking holes, and abundant traces of Neolithic dwellings were found beneath the Iron Age earthworks about this gateway, and an unusually long section of Neolithic ditch, measuring over 70 feet, traverses the entrance, running beneath the cobbled roadway. The course of this second Neolithic ditch has not yet been traced, and it remains a problem whether it can possibly haver any connection with the Neolithic ditch in the southern half of the Fort, or whether it is part of an independant ring in the northern half.
The 6th and 7th sections of the first Neolithic Ditch were located in the southern half, showing its course to curve right across to the eastern vallum on its way to encircle the Neolithic habitation site previously discovered on the extreme southern point of the Fort.
Two large Neolithic post-holes were found on the margin of the 7th section of the ditch. Quantities of flint and greenstone implements and of native and imported Neolithic pottery were recovered.
A trial cutting in the northern half disclosed a 4th period of occupation in a Romano-British pit, which had cut through an earlier Iron Age pit, amd which contained pottery of the third century A.D.
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E B Nunn's account of digging the barrow in the 19th Century
'April 26th 1855, Opened the Long Hill on Royston Heath. Made a cut about 7 feet wide to the base of the hill throughout its length. Found in the east end at about 1 foot from the top a small heap of calcined human bones, and a small piece or two of iron very much corroded, a few pieces of flints. At the depth of 4 feet a human skeleton lying with its legs crossed, the internment was Head NE by SW, at the base of the hill a bank of flint lying NW-SE the portion above described relates to portion no.1 on ground plan. In portion no. 2 a cyst was found cut in the chalk at the base of the hill about 2 feet depth being 18 to 20 inches, containing ashes, at 6 yards farther west another cyst was found of the same description and dimensions. At about 2ft farther west a skeleton was found, the bones being placed in a kind of heap or circle. This was also on the base of the hill. Nothing more was found.'
EBN (of Royston)
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from the Reliquary and Illustrated Archaeologist - published 1899
The Grinlow Barrow
"A short mile south-west of Buxton is a hill of irregular shape, known as Grinlow. Upon its summit, which is 1,440 feet above the level of the sea, stands a conspicuous prospect tower, erected by public subscription about two years ago. You can ascend this tower by means of a winding stairway, and from the top you command an extensive stretch of rugged limestone scenery. Over the door is a tablet which records the particulars of its erection, also the fact that it occupies the site of an ancient barrow; and it further informs you where an account of this barrow may be found, namely, in the 'Proceedings of the society of Antiquaries of London, 2nd Series, vol XV., page 419' ."
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So begins the text of the report. Rather than re-type in its entirety, here are some points which may be of interest:
1. The report was on four barrows in the area, Mr Micah Salt, of Buxton opened two of them and Prof. J P Sheldon of Sheen, Staffs opened the other two.
2. Until 1894, no one apparently had suspected the presence of a barrow beneath the structure.
3. Solomon's Temple was built one severe winter nearly seventy years ago to 'afford occupation to the unemployed of Buxton'
4. The construct of un-mortared rubble, succumbed to the wind and weather and became a heap of stones (which were then used as building material)
5. The dig began on April 25th 1984
6. The original construct was of a Cairn, and over time vegetation and earth had filled the rocks, so that it looked like an earthen barrow.
7. The primary internment was of 'a powerful man who died in middle life'. It lay on the right side, on a shelf of rock, with the head pointing to the east.
8. Two other secondary internment's were noted, one of a woman (buried with a cow's tooth and some pottery) and another male, with the urn (see image at this site).
It is interesting to note that the Spelling of Grinlow was all one word and now in modern references appears to be separated.
Wysefool
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Of times on Liddington's bare peak I love to think and lie,
And muse upon the former day and ancient things gone by,
To pace the old castellum walls and peer into the past,
To learn the secret of the hills, and know myself at last,
To woo Dick Jefferies from his dreams on sorrow's pillow tossed,
And walk with him upon the ridge, and pacify his ghost.
Alfred Williams (local poet and friend of Richard Jefferies)
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Live near the Ridgeway and most interested in sites 'up the rudge'.
Hates: people leaving rubbish at Wayland Smithy (groan, gripe, rant, rage, dribble etc!)
Loves: people taking their rubbish away with them in bags. And yes, that includes nitelites, coins (at least make them silver!), glass, sweet wrappers and dog ends.
Q. what's brown and sticky?
A. try collecting firewood at Waylands.
THINK. would you shit in a church?
... ... ... here endeth the rant
} cUrReNt NoNsEnSe {
Doesn't pagan to a roman just mean some old person who lives in the sticks?
"Why don't you knock it off with them negative waves? Why don't you dig how beautiful it is out here? Why don't you say something righteous and hopeful for a change?"
"God dammit Jim, I'm a Doctor not a Dealer"
"We have sat waiting like this many times before. Sometimes I tire... of the fighting and killing. At night, I can hear the call of my race. They wait for me. When I join them, we will be forgotten."
"We're dealing with a Gnome! A Devil!... A Devil? Now you listen to me. The Devil in the Keep wears a black uniform, has a Death's Head in his cap, and calls himself a Sturmbannführer!"
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