Barrow excavated in 1912, found to enclose three stone-lined graves, containing the skeletons of an adult male, and adult female and a child, plus a selection of grave goods including bone pins, flint tools and a white polished pebble.
Gloucestershire HER:
The first record of the barrow dates to 1625 when a juror’s report on the manor of Cheltenham noted ‘the stones of Northfield Hill’ as one of the boundary markers of the manor. The barrow mound was partially excavated in 1912 by HC Hill, at which time it was about 3.5m high and 12m in diameter. The large depression in the centre of the barrow is thought to result from this excavation. The barrow was found to have been systematically constructed from alternate layers of stone and earth, with three primary burials lying in separate stone cists about 1.8m from the top of the mound. The burials included the remains of two adults and a child which were associated with a number of grave goods including a flint knife, a flint saw, a whetstone, a crystal and a polished white pebble. A secondary burial was found to have been dug into the side of the mound. Considerable evidence for burning was found on the original ground surface, and the site was covered over with rubble ‘for the purpose of preservation’.
Now only 10m diameter though probable original extent indicated by slight swelling in ground. There is an enormous hole in the centre of this barrow, so that very little of the circumference survives & this is partially ploughed.