Images

Image of Tinhead Hill (Long Barrow) by tjj

Detail of barrow on hand drawn map outside Edington church.

Image credit: tjj
Image of Tinhead Hill (Long Barrow) by tjj

Tinhead Hill long barrow is in the right hand corner of this hand drawn map of Edington.

Image credit: tjj
Image of Tinhead Hill (Long Barrow) by tjj

A long view of Tinhead/Edington long barrow

Image credit: tjj

Articles

Tinhead Hill

Visited this hitherto unknown long barrow today. Walked up a firm, steep, footpath from Salisbury Hollow in the village of Edington, turning right at the top onto another field edge footpath. The barrow is in the middle of a crop field almost on the crest of Tinshead Hill. Protected by a strong fence topped with barbed wire and planted with beech trees, it is not possible to investigate too closely. However, couldn’t resist walking up to it across the field – it felt very good to have mud on my boots again. Wonderful views towards Salisbury Plain (in fact on the edge of the Plain) and the town of Westbury. Walking back down to Edington there is a beautiful valley reminiscent of the area around Bishopstone in north Wiltshire – also on a spring line I understand, though it too wet underfoot to clamber down to them today.
Many thanks to my good friend M for spotting this long barrow on the OS map and for leading me up there.

Miscellaneous

Tinhead Hill
Long Barrow

Details of Long Barrow on Pastscape

Long barrow, excavations by Thurman revealed it to have been previously disturbed. Human remains and Windmill Hill Pottery located
(ST 93895239) Long Barrow (GT). (1)
A long barrow at Tinhead, 210 feet long, 70 feet wide and 12 feet high, orientated ENE/WSW. It is on arable land and the
side ditches were just visible in 1936. Excavated by J Thurnam in 1864, who stated that it had been rifled before but he found traces of human remains at the east end with sherds of coarse black pottery nearby, probably Windmill Hill ware. The sherds are in the British Museum: Acc No 1873. 12-19, 194. Planted with trees. It is named ‘Long Barrow’ on the Tithe Map. (2-4)
The barrow is about 63 metres long and has a maximum height at either end of 3.0 metres. Both sides, which were originally
parallel, are extensively mutilated where large scoops of earth have been removed. Surveyed at 1:2500. (5)
Upon the summit of Tinhead Hill, a much mutilated, tree planted, long barrow as described above, its side ditches are no longer apparent.
No change to field report of 21.10.68. 1:2500 AM survey still correct; transfered to PFD. (6)
Originally recorded as Edington 7 by Goddard (7) with a description of the barrow given by Cunnington (8).
Tinhead Barrow (ST41) with Kinnes Type A ditches. The pottery recovered is of a plain bowl. (9)
The mound is now almost rectangular with rounded ends, havind been greatly affected by ploughing, but was likely to have originally been trapezoidal. It measures 62m long and 17m at its widest, though a slightly offset shallow mound, 1m high, at the E end suggests that it was once 15m longer and has been curtailed by ploughing, and reaching a length of 77m and width of 29m.
Of the flanking ditches the N has been ploughed out and only a trace survives. The S example though is 62m long, 14m wide and 0.6m deep. Both are separated from the mound by a berm 2m wide. Surveyed at 1:500 by RCHME field staff as part of the SPTA Project. Further details can be found within the project archive. (10)

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SOURCE TEXT
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( 1) Ordnance Survey Map (Scale / Date) OS 6” 1961
( 2) General reference VCH Wilts 1 1957 140 (L V Grinsell)
( 3) General reference Arch 42 1869 180 194-5 (J Thurnam)
( 4) General reference Tithe Map Edington 1842
( 5) Field Investigators Comments F1 ANK 21-OCT-68
( 6) Field Investigators Comments F2 ASP 22-APR-77
( 7) General reference WAM 38, 1913-14, 250 (E.H Goddard)
( 8) General reference WAM 38, 1913-14 390 (M.E Cunnington)
( 9) General reference Brit. Museum Occ. Paper No. 52; Non Megalithic Long Barrows and Allied Structures in the British Neolithic. 1992, 26 (I. Kinnes)
(10) General reference D Field, G. Brown/26-1-95/RCHME:SPTA Project

Sites within 20km of Tinhead Hill