After leaving Hazleton long barrows and rejoining my route, the Gloucestershire Way takes me through Salperton Park and the pretty Cotswolds villages of Notgrove and Cold Aston (26.4.2021).
I'm not sure what to expect in the way of access to this next site, although I've seen it standing prominently in its field from the bus window on many occasions. It turns out I needn't have worried, as the field is open from the Camp Farm track to the south, and there are also numerous gaps in the hedge separating the barrow from the footpath.
It's a superb barrow, very reminiscent of East Kennett with its crown of tall trees and isolated setting, on top of the high ridge separating Cold Aston from the Windrush valley to the north. The earthwork is well-preserved and stands proud above the field surface. It's the jewel of today's three sites, and one of the best long barrows in this part of the Cotswolds.
At length I resume my walk, dropping down to the Windrush at Aston Mill, then re-ascending the next ridge. Looking back from here, the barrow is a very obvious landmark across the valley. Getting tired by now, I head to the tourist trap of Lower Slaughter ("private property" signs abound) and then have a final, tiring climb up Stow Hill to finish today's section by the Tolkein-inspiring church door. A good day out.
This was a lot easier to access than I was expecting.
Directions: Take the A436 west out of Bourton-On-The-Water. You will shortly come to a public footpath sign (Gloucestershire Way) on your left with room to park one car. The trees on top of the Barrow can be seen from the field gate. To get a closer look at the Long Barrow just jump over the gate and head towards the trees – 5 minute stroll.
The Long Barrow is approximately 25 long x 2m high. There are lots of small stones scattered all over the Long Barrow and I had a jump when a startled pheasant flew out from under a bush. I could see no obvious sign that the Long Barrow had been dug into – although no doubt it had!
As the surrounding landscape is fairly flat the Long Barrow is actually at a prominent position – something you don’t appreciate until you reach the site.
(SP 1434 2063) Long Barrow (NR) (1) A long barrow measuring 100 ft by 55 ft by 7 ft oriented SSE/NNW, planted with trees and enclosed by a wire fence (2). Crawford described it as perfect and unopened, with no sign of attempted mutilation (3), though Fosbroke in 1807 reported Roman coins excavated from a barrow in this parish, and this is the only barrow known in it. (2-3) SP 1434 2064. A long barrow 33m long, 16m wide and uniformly 1.8m high, with no trace of side ditches. Conspicuously sited on a small prominence in ploughed farmland, it remains tree planted and generally well preserved. A slight depression midway along its S side represents a modern mutilation and a modern pile of stones surmounts its E end. Local enquiry could add no further information as to whether or not this was the barrow in which the Roman coins were found.
Revised at 1:2500. (4) Scheduled as 'Cold Aston long barrow 200yds (180m) E of Camp Farm'. (5) The Neolithic long barrow described above (1-5) is obscured by trees on the available aerial photographs, however, a bank that appears to continue its alignment to the south-east is visible as a cropmark on aerial photographs, suggesting that the long barrow may have been significantly longer. The cropmark bank measures a maximum of 106m long and up to 44m wide and is probably caused by a spread of the bank material. (6)
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Posted by Chance
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