Miscellaneous

Withington Long Barrow
Long Barrow

Details of long barrow on Pastscape

SP 03061416 Long Barrow (NR) A long barrow measuring 140 ft by 60 ft high, aligned ENE/WSW. Witts noted the existence of chambers disturbed by earlier excavations, and Mrs O’Neil found a badly disturbed chamber, possibly a lateral
chamber, 45 ft from the west end on the central axis. SP 03041416 A long barrow, situated upon a gentle SE facing slope in woodland. The barrow, orientated ENE/WSW, is 58.0m in length and 12.0m in width. The height increases from 0.4m at the western end to 1.7m at the eastern end. The mound is densely covered with brambles and small trees, but is seen to be composed of broken limestone. There are no signs of side ditches. The chamber located by Mrs O’Neil rremains exposed 14.0m from the W end and in a very mutilated condition. It is 3.0m x 1.5m x 0.8m deep and contains limestone fragments. Several flat slabs average 1.0m x 0.8m x 0.2m thick lie in and around the chamber; it cannot be determined by inspection whether the slabs originally formed the chamber sides or were capstones. There is a circular depression 3.0m in diameter and 0.5m deep on the barrow spine, 17.0m from the ENE end. An early ? excavation. Published 1:2500 survey revised on AM. (5)
A probable Neolithic long barrow in Withington Woods survives as an oblong earthwork oriented ENE to WSW. It is visible on aerial photographs of 1946 as an extant earthwork prior to the area becoming densely wooded. It has since been surveyed on the ground, as well as being mapped from aerial photographs as part of The Cotswold Hills NMP project. The barrow as visible on aerial photographs of 1946 is centred at SP 0305 1417, approximately 676m to the south-west of Colnbrook. It appears to measure approximately 48m WSW to ENE and 11m NNW to SSE, although its visibility on aerial photographs is partly masked by low scrub. On all later aerial photographs the trees of Withington Wood obscure the aerial view of the barrow (7).