Roundway Hill

The round barrow cemetery includes six bowl barrows, all of which have been excavated and all survive differentially: four are circular mounds of between 11.8m and 24m in diameter and from 0.2m up to 2.1m high surrounded by buried quarry ditches from which the construction material was derived; two are preserved as entirely buried structures layers and deposits visible as soil or crop marks on aerial photographs with diameters of 10.9m and 21.9m. Two of the extant mounds are conjoined but excavation showed them to be two entirely separate bowl barrows.

All except one of the bowl barrows were excavated by Cunnington in the period from 1855-8. They produced a wide range of finds, including barbed and tanged arrowheads, burnt bones, animal bones, daggers, worked antler, a quartz pebble, whetstones, a slate wrist guard, a bell beaker and sherds of Romano-British pottery as well as the primary and secondary cremations and inhumations set into grave pits or wooden boxes. One further bowl barrow was excavated by Thurnam in the mid 19th century but only an empty cist was revealed. The southernmost ‘barrow’ excavated by W Cunnington in 1805 appeared not to be a bowl barrow despite still surviving as a circular mound of 15m in diameter and up to 1m high. Instead this mound was a hlaew which contained a primary Anglo-Saxon inhumation orientated east to west and accompanied by an iron ring, a bone gaming piece and a shield boss. A second excavation (by a different Cunnington – Henry or William Jnr) carried out in 1877 which produced a flint knife and whetstone may not have been from this mound at all.

The entire cemetery lies within the Registered Battlefield - the Battle of Roundway Down, 1643 - an English Civil War skirmish which saw a defeat for the Parliamentary forces many of whom were killed as cavalry horses hurtled over the steep scarp sides at nearby Oliver’s Castle (scheduled separately) plunging into what became known as ‘Bloody Ditch’.

Northwestern barrow (SU01490 64839)

Two confluent bowl barrows. The West mound was opened and revealed a wooden coffin containing burnt bones and a dagger. East mound contained a primary cremation and other finds. Also an intrusive burial of unknown date. Barrow G5b contained a small unworked pebble with a fractured end. It was Petrologically tested and found to be a rolled chert pebble. An unworked fragment of stone from the primary cremation in barrow G5b was also Petrologically tested and found to be coarse grained grey sandstone, and two other fragments of stone proved to be ferruginous sandstone.

Southwestern barrow (SU 01937 64340)

Bowl barrow with intrusive Saxon burial, opened by William Cunnington in 1805, who also found an iron ring, bone gaming pieces and a possible shield boss. Thought to have been opened again in 1877 by Henry or William Cunnington Jnr., who recovered a flint knife. An irregularly shaped tabular whetstone from a primary cremation in the bowl barrow was sent for Petrological testing, and was identified as being made of fine grained reddish sandstone.

Central barrow (SU02128 64604)

Bowl barrow opened by J Thurnam who found an empty cist indicating a previous disturbance.

Eastern barrow (SU02513 64754)

Mutilated Bronze Age bowl barrow.