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Inkpen Hill

Barrow / Cairn Cemetery

Folklore

There are several prehistoric round barrows on Inkpen Hill, which are supposed to contain buried treasure, including a coffin made either of solid gold or of silver. One particular barrow, on Saddler's Farm, is said to be haunted by a headless ghost; it is also said that nineteenth century archaeologists who tried to open it up were driven away by violent thunder and lightning.
Westwood and Simpson ('Lore of the Land', 2005), apparently drawing on Grinsell's Folklore of Prehistoric Sites, and 3rd Stone magazine v47.
Rhiannon Posted by Rhiannon
14th July 2010ce

Comments (3)

The barrows on the hillside were initially dug into by O.G.S. Crawford prior to the First World War. He was persuaded to stop his "amateurish" investigations by the president of the Newbury District Field Club, who then proceeded to take over where Crawford had left off.

The ghost I encountered when visiting the site in May 2009 was that of Dorothy Newman who had been hung 333 years earlier along with George Bromham for the murder of Georges' wife, Mrs. Martha Bromham and their young son, Robert. The bodies were found in Wigmoreash Pond, a little further along the ridgeway where it crosses Wigmoreash Drove.
Chance Posted by Chance
14th July 2010ce
Do you not want to tell us about your ghost then?! Rhiannon Posted by Rhiannon
15th July 2010ce
I cycled down the Inkpen ridgeway and stopped off on the way to Combe Gibblet long barrow, to photograph the Inkpen barrows.
I walked down the county/parish boundary line towards Rivar Copse and inadvertently walked over the little mound which turned out to be the remains of the murders.

http://www.magic.gov.uk/website/magic/opener.htm?startTopic=magicall&chosenLayers=moncIndex&xygridref=434907,161970&startScale=5000

http://www.berkshirehistory.com/legends/ghosts_i.html

See the Black Legend

http://www.themodernantiquarian.com/post/88347/folklore/combe_gibbet.html
Chance Posted by Chance
15th July 2010ce
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