In TC Darvill’s ‘Long Barrows of the Cotswolds’ (2004) he says “In 1820 during the clearance on woodland and stone quarrying a previously unrecorded long barrow was revealed. It was promptly investigated on 22/23 February 1821 by Dr Fry of Dursley and TJ Lloyd Baker of Hardwick Court.”
Previously unrecorded? Should we doubt this? Does it mean ‘previously unrecorded by the local antiquarian gentlemen’ or ‘previously unnoticed by local people’? If it’s the latter, how can it fit with the ‘Hetty Peglar’ name? The general explanation has been that Hetty was the Hester Peglar you find on a monument in the church – the wife of Captain Pegler of Wresden, alleged owner of the land. But she died in 1694. So why on earth would the barrow be named after her, if it wasn’t discovered until 1820?? Then again, ‘Peglar’ is hardly an uncommon name in the area, so it might just be another Hester, from later. Or maybe ‘previously unrecorded’ is a total red herring, and it was perfectly well known locally for years (a century+, seemingly) previously. Hmm. I don’t think the bottom of this has been reached.