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Nan Tow’s Tump

Visited 15.1.11
Really easy to visit this one – right next to the busy A46. Luckily there is a minor road directly opposite the Barrow where you can pull over near a field gate (signposted Hillesley) where I also saw a cute Shetland pony.
Access is no problem as there is a very worn public footpath sign next to the barrow. (Wouldn’t be a problem anyway as the fencing around the place has collapsed!)
The Barrow itself is covered in trees, brambles and long grass. I climbed to the top of the barrow which was covered it ivy. I nice place for a quick stop when in the area.

Folklore

Nan Tow’s Tump
Round Barrow(s)

The Tump is one of the Cotswolds’ largest round barrows, standing 9 ft high and about 100ft in diameter.

John Reynolds, in his (now defunct) website told how one of the Dukes of Beaufort had a witch buried alive in her house – and that’s what Nan Tow’s tump is. He added that perhaps the story originates from the (assumed?) discovery of a skeleton in a cist in the barrow. Traditionally the witch was supposed to have been buried ‘upright’. But the scheduled monument record on MAGIC suggests there’s no evidence of the barrow having been excavated.

Sites within 20km of Nan Tow’s Tump