Miscellaneous

West Tump
Long Barrow

This barrow was ‘discovered’ by G B Witts in 1880, and he excavated it the same year.
archive.org/stream/transactionsbris05bris#page/200/mode/2up

He noted that the south east end curved in slightly forming the horns characteristic of the Severn-Cotswold longbarrows. It was also surrounded
by a dry stone wall. The `horns’ stood to a height of approximately 1m and between them were two upright stones forming a false doorway. There was no chamber at the south east end, but it was found 25m from the southern `horn’. Here there was an entrance through the wall 0.6m wide. A passage 2m long led to the chamber, which contained about 20 skeletons. One of the skeletons, that of a young woman, was placed at the end of the chamber on a semi-circle of flat stones, and the remains of a baby were nearby.

By 1920 the surrounding wall had all but disappeared, though you can see something of it still. The remains of the `horns’ are now just a depression, and there’s a great big dip in the top where the excavation took place.

The barrow lies in Buckle Wood, so it might be a bit camouflaged today – but I think at 150 feet long you might spot it.

(info from the scheduled monument record and James Dyer’s ‘Cotswolds and Upper Thames’ regional archaeology booklet)