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Long Barrow
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This fine tumulus is a conspicuous object on Shurdington Hill, three miles south of Cheltenham, and three quarters of a mile north-east of the Crickley Hill Camp. The position affords extensive views over the vale of Gloucester... Many years ago the tenant of the land began to move away part of the earth at the southern extremity, and in doing so uncovered a cromlech, in which was found a skeleton and several articles of which no satisfactory account can now be obtained. The ground in which the tumulus stands is still called the "Barrow Piece." From Bill Thayer's webpage of Witts's 1880s 'Archaeological Handbook of the County of Gloucester'.
The smr record on Magic adds that there is a flat stone at the eastern end, nearly 2m long, and that this is thought to be the capstone of the chamber opened in the 18th century. Rudder, writing in 1779, recorded that the barrow had been opened some years before. He claimed that a skeleton had been found in the burial chamber, with 'a helmet, which was so corroded by rust that it fell to pieces on the slightest touch.' Since the Neolithic people did not have metal helmets, was this body a later addition, or a misinterpretation of the find?
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Posted by Rhiannon
30th June 2006ce
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