Normanton Down and Bush Barrow

Nearest town:
Amesbury (4km ENE)
OS reference:
SU116413
OS sheet:
184
Latitude:
51° 10' 13.01 N
Longitude:
1° 50' 2.62 W
Added to TMA by

Sites within Normanton Down and Bush Barrow

​

​ •

location_on photo ondemand_video forum description link ​

Images

Image of Normanton Down and Bush Barrow by GLADMAN

Ancient track, when I walk you, guess I know where I’m at. Or something like that..........

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
GLADMAN
GLADMAN Aug 8, 2010
Image of Normanton Down and Bush Barrow by Chance

Detail of the middle section of the Normanton Down Barrow Group.
The barrows are numbered with offical titles. (Example Bush Barrow – Wilsford G5)

Image credit: Chance
Chance
Chance Jun 11, 2010
Image of Normanton Down and Bush Barrow by Chance

The Normanton Down barrow group in 1810 showing how the group stretch out along the ridge over looking Stonehenge.
The group contains: two small long barrows 151 and 175, eight disc barrows, including the one William Stukeley dug 159 and Bush Barrow 158.

Image credit: Sir Richard Colt-Hoare, 1810, Ancient Wiltshire, Vol.1
Chance
Chance Jun 9, 2010
Image of Normanton Down and Bush Barrow by Chance

Looking over the disc barrow dug by William Stukeley towards Bush Barrow

Image credit: Chance
Chance
Chance May 31, 2010
Image of Normanton Down and Bush Barrow by The Eternal

The Normanton Down Barrow Cemetery, looking S from Stonehenge Down 08/07/09.

Image credit: The Eternal
The Eternal
The Eternal Aug 10, 2009

Articles

Normanton Down and Bush Barrow

Rhiannon
Rhiannon Jul 23, 2009

You’ll probably have to take your life in your hands crossing the A303, but walking along the track to the Normanton Down barrows is very pleasant. It does feel ancient (I imagine it is). Chalk and flint are everywhere. I liked the way there were apples (albeit a bit sour) and other fruit plants along the way. Once up on the ridge you get a great view of the Bush barrow and a disc barrow, with other barrows beyond. A board informs you that the barrows are all on private land. I was a little disappointed but hardly surprised. The sheep were happy running about on them at least. On one side you can see down to Stonehenge and over to the King Barrows on the horizon; on the other side there are the Lake Barrows, most of which are hidden in and behind the trees.

Normanton Down and Bush Barrow

Chris Collyer
Chris Collyer Sep 9, 2002

Just a short distance from the hustle and bustle of Stonehenge is the barrow cemetery of Normanton down. Although you can see the stones and the tourists in the distance, if you come here you’ll probably have the place to yourself – the only other person I saw was looking for a crop circle and the only thing to spoil the peace and quiet was the distant hum of military transport planes.
As for the barrows, there’s long barrows, bowl, bell, disc and saucer barrows including the famous Bush Barrow excavated in 1808 by Sir Richard Colt Hoare.

Miscellaneous

Normanton Down and Bush Barrow
Barrow / Cairn Cemetery
Chance
Chance Jan 1, 2013

Details of the central section of the Barrow Group on Pastscape

14 Bronze Age round barrows on Normanton Down survive as earthworks. They form the central group of the Normanton Down round barrow cemetery (Monument Number 1531088). The round barrows were listed individually by Goddard (1913) and Grinsell (1957), as: Wilsford 3-9, 9a, 10-12 and 14-17. The group includes Bush Barrow (Monument Number 943060). The linear barrow cemetery continues to the west (Monument Number 219735) and east (Monument Number 219564). Many of the round barrows were excavated by Sir Richard Colt Hoare in the early 19th century and they were surveyed at a scale of 1:1000 in April 2010 as part of English Heritage’s Stonehenge WHS Landscape Project. Please see the individual records for specific details about each barrow.

Miscellaneous

Normanton Down and Bush Barrow
Barrow / Cairn Cemetery
Chance
Chance May 31, 2010

Account of William Stukeley’s diggings on a disc barrow in the Normanton Down group:

We dug up one of those I call Druid’s barrows, a small tump inclos’d in a large circular ditch. I chose that next to bushbarrow, westward of it. Stonehenge bears hence north-east. We made a cross section ten foot each way, three foot broad over its center, upon the cardinal points. At length we found a squarish hole cut into the solid chalk, in the center of the tumulus. It was three foot and a half, i.e. two cubits long, and near two foot broad, i.e. one cubit: pointing to Stonehenge directly. It was a cubit and half deep from the surface. This was the domus exilis Plutonia cover’d with artificial earth, not above a foot thick from the surface. In this little grave we found all the burnt bones of a man, but no signs of an urn. The bank of the circular ditch is on the outside, and is 12 cubits broad. The ditch is 6 cubits broad (the Druid’s staff) the area is 70 cubits in diameter. The whole 100.

Stonehenge, A Temple Restor’d to the British Druids, by William Stukeley, 1740

Topics

Where is this place? 5
Chance
Chance
Nov 2007
new site rocks 3
R
RiotGibbon
Dec 2002

Sites within 20km of Normanton Down and Bush Barrow

Like all websites everywhere, we use cookies.