Saw this long barrow on an OS map whilst walking nearby and went to go check it out. It’s clearly visible from afar against an otherwise flat field. I acessed it from a farm track from the north which was easy but involved some climbing.
Up close, there isn’t much to explore. It’s a low mound, about 3 or 4ft high with a single small oak tree in the north-east corner. The banks have been badly damaged whether by ploughing or something else. I was interested to read on a previous post from 2011 about the site that there used to be four trees, one at each corner. Since then, the rest must have died. Speculating why there were trees planted, I thought that it may have something to do with the name, Oak piece, relating to the use of wood in the construction of the burial chambers. I can’t seem to find any more information about the name or whether wood even was used in its construction.
Despite there not being much to see, I found it an atmospheric place. Maybe because it sits isolated in an empty field (on the day I visited) or because the nearby farmhouse that overlooks it was abandoned. I found it easier here than in some of the more well known sites to imagine what it might have been like to follow a funeral procession to the site.
