Rhiannon

When dashing along the road between Devizes and Avebury you will no doubt notice the wealth of barrows in the fields around you. About 24 of them (some now obvious, some ploughed out) made up the North Down cemetery. The oldest barrow was a Neolithic long barrow (now only 20cm higher than the surrounding field, according to the EH smr) – it was excavated in 1964 and three ox skulls were discovered inside, along with the wattle frame used in its construction. (Three ox skulls were similarly found within nearby Beckhampton longbarrow). The ground underneath showed that the area had been used for agriculture and ‘funerary activities’ before the barrow was built. The barrow was 40m long and orientated NE-SW (perhaps in reference to the midwinter sunrise?).

A bowl barrow was built in the Bronze Age close to the longbarrow, and around this focus were built the many other round barrows of the cemetery, probably over a considerable period of time. The cemetery is classic “DAD will you look at the ROAD” territory, so be careful because other drivers seem to use this straight stretch as a racetrack.

It seems that this is not just your run-of-the-mill long barrow, but actually an example of an Oval Barrow: a rather rarer beast. There are only about 50 in England and this is one of only two in the Avon region. They are very old and originate from the early to middle Neolithic.

The description in EH’s scheduled monument record (via Magic) says that the large stones (no doubt those in Vulcan’s photo) at the northern end of the N-S mound are probably the remains of a burial chamber. (Smaller stones are interpreted as field clearance from the second world war period).

Other oval barrows that have been excavated have produced two different types of burials – bodies of adults and children laid directly on the ground before the mound was raised, and those of one or two adults laid in a pit beneath the centre of the mound. It’s been discovered that some oval barrows were raised over still earlier monuments. The ditches around the barrows often contain deliberately placed pottery, flintwork and bone too, so it’s clear that the spots were a focus for the community over a very long period of time.

Rybury began as Neolithic causewayed camp, like nearby Knap Hill, and is thought to date from about 2500BC. The hilltop is encircled by ditches crossed by causeways. It seems an excellent site to choose: a naturally isolated flattish spot, surrounded by steep slopes on a spur of the downs, with wide views of the vale below.

Later an Iron Age enclosure was built here – this is the period the bank comes from. Dyer (in ‘Southern England, an Archaeological Guide’) suggests that the site’s eastern side shows the Neolithic ditches the best (the outer ditch being Neolithic, the inner being Iron Age?).

The Reverend John Collinson wrote the following in his ‘History and Antiquities of the County of Somerset’ in the 1780s – without him what record would we have of the site in its better days?

“This place.. has been variously written as Nimet, Nempnett, Nemlet, Emmet, and Emet..”

(It has been suggested that the name is from the Roman? Celtic? ‘nemeton’ – sacred grove).

“..a small distance eastward from the church stands a large tumulus 50 yds in length, 20 in breadth and 15 in height, and covered on its top with ash trees, briars and thick shrubs. On opening it some time ago its composition throughout was found to be a mass of stones supported on each side lengthwise by a wall of thin flakes. The distance between the two walls is about 8 ft and the intermediate space is filled up with two rows of cells, or cavities, formed by very large stones set edgewise.

These cells, the entrance into which is at the south end, run in a direction north to south, and are divided from each other by vast stones placed on their edges, and covered with others still larger by way of architrave.

In one of them were found seven skulls, one quite perfect; in another a vast heap of small human bones and horses’ teeth. All the cells are not yet opened..”

Although called ‘Three Barrows’ on the OS map, these three are actually at the centre of a Bronze Age barrow cemetery which runs along the crest of Idstone Down. There are nine more round barrows in this linear group running NW / SE. The ‘Three’ however lie in a line east to west, and are 1.5m, 1.6m and 1.3m high – they are thought to be the ‘core’ around which the rest of the cemetery grew up. The smr record on Magic interestingly says that they lie so close together that their ditches would have been interlocking. At some time two of them have been dug into, but no details are known of the excavations. The surrounding area has produced many finds of worked flints for archaeologists.

Like Barrow Hill this is positioned next to Banbury Lane (part of the ‘Jurassic Way’ ancient routeway). It is smaller, only one metre high, but is located on the brow of a hill and can be seen as a prominent bump. There are traces of a ditch on one side. In 1806 the field was called Windmill Ground, so the barrow may have been reused as a windmill mound (unless that was just an assumption of its origins).

(info gleaned from the smr record on Magic)

Barrow Hill outside Sulgrave is an oval shaped Bronze Age burial mound positioned on a relatively high point in the surrounding land. Its northern end is about two metres high. According to its record on ‘Magic’ some large stones lie exposed on its western side – perhaps there were or are burial cists inside. The mound has apparently been rather disturbed by badgers.

Looking on the map you can see it is handily located in the angle between a public footpath and the ancient Banbury Lane (a supposed prehistoric route from the Avon to the Humber).

This Neolithic long barrow survives amid the village of Pitsford. It’s still 30m long and up to 2m high. When the adjacent road was widened in the 19th century, skeletons were found: these were probably from Saxon times.

The barrow just outside Boughton village is 2m high and 20m in diameter. It lies unploughed and covered in vegetation in a cultivated field. A ditch encircled the mound – you may be able to see traces of this. In the 1970s, pottery and Bronze Age flints were found in pits in the southern end of the field.

Boughton House is nearby – it was originally the site of a monastery but was converted in the 1500s into a grand Versailles wannabe. The gardens include ‘The Mound’: considerably bigger than our little round barrow (!) but could it have been inspired by prehistory? Stukeley himself designed a mausoleum for the top of it in 1742 (though it was never built).

The village was also the site of a medieval fair, a turf maze, and still has St John’s holy well with its ruined church. It may (or may not) be relevant that St John’s day is at the midsummer solstice.

This bowl barrow was built on a gentle north-facing slope on the North Downs, long ago in the Bronze Age. But now it’s probably part of someone’s private garden, and surrounded by houses on ‘The Drive’ in Banstead!

In 1594 it was used as a beacon (and local legend describes its use at the arrival of the Spanish Armada). It stands 4m high – maybe it was enlarged for its new use? It now unfortunately has concrete steps on one side and hides a WW2 air raid shelter, but is at least commemorated in the name of a local pub...

(facts from its record via MAGIC)

I do like Mitchell’s Fold. Its wide wild views are fantastic. It has friendly horses sometimes too.

The Shropshire Tourism website (shropshiretourism.info/south-shropshire/mitchell_fold/) suggests King Arthur drew Excalibur out of one of the stones here. Apparently this was something recorded by William Stukeley [but see the comments below, perhaps this romanticism is more modern]. I guess it’s prime territory for Arthur, right on the border between England and Wales.

Here is some information about what else you may find around the circle, gleaned from the Shropshire sites and monuments record.

Mitchell’s Fold stone circle (also known as Medjices Fold and Madges Pinfold) is situated in a high saddle between Stapeley Hill to the north and Corndon Hill to the south. The stones were probably brought from Stapely Hill to the north west – they are all the same geologically.

It is thought there may be a central stone in situ below the turf. The interior of the circle is criss-crossed with lines – not all of them modern vandalism apparently, as the ridge is said to be the old coach route from Shrewsbury to Aberystwyth.

Ninety metres SE of the circle is a 0.7m standing stone on a small bump. Immediately north east of this is is a low mound believed to be the base of a robbed cairn – several stones show through the turf covering it.

from This Is Bradford
archive.ilkleygazette.co.uk/2004/7/16/99012.html
Famous markings may be forged?
Internationally renowned prehistoric rock markings may have been forged, it is being claimed. Ilkley’s Panorama Stone is known around the world for its distinctive “ladder” motif.

But far from being the work of our prehistoric ancestors the designs are more likely to have been added by a Victorian workman, according to a local expert. Gavin Edwards, Museums Officer, Archaeology, at the Manor House in Ilkley, stumbled across evidence of possible fraud and skulduggery whilst carrying out research into the Panorama Stones.

And now his findings are set to send shock waves around the archaeological community. But even more surprising, in his view, is the fact that the evidence has been in the public domain for almost a century. Mr Edwards believes Victor-ian illustrations and a report in the Ilkley Gazette in 1913 point to the fact that the ladder design considered to be extremely rare prehistoric artwork -- was added to the original, authentic cup and ring markings.

As evidence he produces two Victorian illustrations, one made by an unknown artist probably in the 1860s, and another which appeared in a publication in 1896. Whist the first shows no evidence of the distinctive, rare design, the latter includes the disputed markings.

He says: “Evidence that the marking on the rock might have been altered in Victorian times is provided by a number of contemporary illustrations. These show significant differences, which might be argued to result from artistic licence or oversight, but a report that appeared in the Ilkley Gazette, March 22, 1913, suggests something much more deliberate.

The report describes a lecture by Mr T C Gill, Bailiff of Ilkley Moor, in which he suggests that some of the markings may have been added. The Bailiff even named the person he believed may have been responsible. One Ambrose Collins, a workman employed at the Semon’s Convalescent Home from 1872-73 was reported to “spend most of his leisure time carving and ornamenting the rocks near the home, evidently hoping that at some future time they would be discovered and become famous.”

Mr Edwards believes his argument is likely to prove controversial as the ladder markings on the Panorama stone are internationally renowned. But he believes the evidence is too powerful simply to ignore.

He said: “The Panorama stones are known internationally be-cause of this unexplained ladder pattern. They are very famous and considered to be very special but I suspect the reason they are special is because they are slightly fraudulent. Once you see the drawings and see the difference, and then read the article you cannot help but come to the conclusion that there is probably something very dodgy about this. Because they are such famous rocks I am deeply surprised that no-one has raised this possibility before. It just seems incredible when the evidence has been there for 90 years. The implication, unfortunately is that if one stone can be altered then how many others have been altered.”

Mr Edwards will be looking at the issue as part of an exhibition at the Manor House later this year. Not Set In Stone looks at rock art today, and will run from September 25 to November 21.

The 16th century antiquarian John Stow wrote about the “very tall” stone (before it got smashed up that is):

“A great stone called London Stone, fixed in the ground very deep, fastened with bars of iron, and otherwise so stronglie set that if carts do runne against it through negligence the wheeles be broken, and the stone itself unshaken”

(quoted in J&C Bord’s ‘Mysterious Britain’)

John Stow also found the earliest written record of the stone in ‘a fair Gospel book’ once belonging to Ethelstone, an early 10th century king of the West Saxons. It described how certain lands and rents were “described to lie near unto London Stone.”

Slightly later in the late 12th century the first mayor of London was known as Henry Fitz-Ailwin de Londonestone. The stone already symbolised the power and authority of the city.

(from Ackroyd’s ‘London – the biography’ 2000).

TC Lethbridge wrote of his peculiar experiences at the Merry Maidens (in ‘Legends of the Sons of God’). Was it just a subconscious response to the circle’s name? or something else..

“As soon as the pendulum started to swing, a strange thing happened.. [it] shot out until it was circling nearly horizontally to the ground. The stone itself, which must have weighed over a ton, felt as if it were rocking and almost dancing about. This was quite alarming but I stuck to my counting..
The next day I sent my wife up alone to see what happened to her. She had the same experience. It has happened nowhere else. The Pipers were mute and so were many crosses and other monuments which I have tried. But most circular monuments are now incomplete and perhaps something has gone from them.”

This is a reasonably well-preserved longbarrow: largely surrounded by firing ranges I suppose it only has burrowing animals to worry about. It’s unusual because it’s ovoid in shape, according to its EH record. It aligns NNE/SSW, with its broader end towards the sunrise, and sits on the false crest of a steep east-facing slope so as to impress people below. Another unusual feature is that it has a little round barrow right on its southern side, so close that it impinges on its ditch. Another small round barrow lies 100m to the north west.

(facts from Grinsell’s ‘Hampshire Barrows’)

King Arthur’s Cave is one of only five English caves known to have been used in both the Early and Late Upper Palaeolithic periods.

It consists of two chambers which join near the entrance – they go back about ten metres and have ‘ceilings’ up to four metres high. A two bedroom flat where you can get some privacy from the kids?

Excavations have found various Palaeolithic tools, and the remains of hyenas, horses and red deer. Were these left from meals? A horse would hardly wander into a cave – but maybe the hyenas did at an unoccupied time (you can only imagine them to be a rather stringy meal choice). A hearth near the entrance was dated to about 12,000 years ago. Later Mesolithic artefacts, including a drilled pig’s tooth (for jewellery not animal dentistry I assume) have also been found in this part of the cave. It’s interesting to think of people sitting in the entrance with their fire, looking out – no doubt rather as you yourself would choose to, if you camped there tonight.

Although I’m sure fans of TMA don’t have the ‘Ug’-style caveman as their stereotype of prehistoric people, perhaps it’s still difficult for us to imagine life in King Arthur’s Cave as it really was. They might not have had mobile phones and supermarkets, but were the fundamental concerns of their lives (family, friends, romance, dinner, the weather..) really so different?

(The Facts gleaned from the EH scheduled monument record on the Magic database)

This sounds like another contender for the ‘don’t mind me’ category. The long barrow was built in the Neolithic on a slight NE-SW ridge, with its front end facing the north east. But the landscape has been considerably messed with since – it now sits amongst the Little Rissington airfield, built in WW2 – but the barrow is still up to 1.8m high.

Its record on ‘Magic’ says some stones can be seen protruding through the ground – the barrow was partly excavated in the 1930s and it was found that a stone passage ran c.20m into the barrow from its entrance, ending in a small chamber. Other excavations found another chamber in the side of the barrow.

During World War II, someone saw fit to build a brick bomb shelter into the north west side of the mound. Perhaps we should be charitable and see it as an interesting reuse of the barrow. Maybe.

Some added information about the Burnt Hill Portal Dolmen (gleaned from the record on Magic):

Only about 20 portal dolmens are known in the country, so this is a rare (if unprepossessing) site. Most are in west Penwith, Cornwall, or in the north-west Oxfordshire Cotswolds (there are a few in between). They date from the Early and Middle Neolithic (about 3500-2600 BC) so are practically the oldest monuments you can find in the landscape.

When shiny and brand new the dolmen would have been a small closed rectangular chamber built from large stone slabs, with free-standing stones flanking the front slab. A (usually massive) capstone would have covered the chamber. It may have been reused centuries later for urned cremations in the Bronze Age.

Today the dolmen lies on a bend in the modern (and presumably ancient) county boundary between Warwickshire and Oxfordshire. Even in 1971 field observations turned up “two small fragments of human skull, two fragments of long bones, three struck flints, including a retouched flake, and two fragments of pottery.” It does make you think about what will be left of our society’s artifacts in 5500 years time.

The BBCi website advises:

Dinas Emrys is a very fragile and vulnerable site, owned and managed by the National Trust. Visitors are strongly advised to contact the warden at Craflwyn beforehand on 01766 890659, or email [email protected].

Loads of eighteenth and nineteenth century graffiti can be found on the tomb. Canmore mentions that by Major William Mounsey, who was a spy for Britain in Afghanistan and Persia. You can see his name with the date 1850 on the south face, above the sentence ‘I have sat two nights and so learnt patience’ in fancy Persian calligraphy. This is said to be in reference to the revolting local midges..

Canmore also says:
“30m ESE of the Stone is another big boulder which seems to have been intended as a closing stone; it measures 1.55m by 1.05m by 0.8m and is shaped at one end into a ‘stopper’ form more neatly than the shaping of the closing stone now in front of the doorway. In a line downslope N by W from the tomb, at 11m, 17m and 19m from it, are massive edge-set boulders. The positioning of these may be fortuitous, but they could conceivably be remnants of an alignment running up to the Stone.”

This 4’6” stone stands in a field not far from Cerrig Y Gof. Its name means ‘tall stone’.

Coflein describes a 3.0m long prostrate stone at SN03563892 which is suggested to be an associated monolith.

These two stones stand eight metres apart – one is 2.2m and the other 2.4m tall. Their flat faces are aligned – it’s rumoured that there are other aligned stones in the vicinity, though the information on Coflein does not give this idea much credit.

Waun Lwyd means grey meadow or moorland. The pair of stones seem to lie just above a pair of springs, should that be deemed relevant?

According to the information on Coflein, Carn Gilfach has a huge capstone 13’6” long, 8’ wide and 3’ thick. It is supported by orthostats 18” high underneath – it was probably made by undercutting a natural boulder. In the 19th century, charcoal, pottery and flint were found inside. It was once thought that another tomb lay close by, but this is probably a natural feature. Which of course doesn’t rule it out as being used as a tomb, one assumes..

Bulldozed to the edge of the field during the last century, is this stone still here? Is it the rumoured companion to the Lady’s Gate stone?

(listed on Coflein)

Yearns Low barrow sits on a ridge – this lovely picture by Jane Osmond gives an impression of its place in the landscape: artist-studio.co.uk/jane_osmond/fewremaining/Yearnslowandpenninefarm.jpg

According to MAGIC it is unusual in that the mound was reused for burials in the Roman period. It’s also fairly unusual in that two drystone walls cross over it!

Gallowsclough Cob is a bronze age barrow (or the low mound that remains of one) on top of Gallowsclough Hill. When it was excavated a cremation was found in the centre; the mound had been reused for an interment later on too. During building it was kerbed with turf. A ‘cob’ is a lump of something – I guess before ploughing this site was a bit more of a bump.
(MAGIC)

These barrows on the crest of a hill slope have been ploughed rather a lot – and there aren’t seven of them any more. Perhaps there never were – you know how seven seems to be a popular result when counting barrows.

Goffer’s Knoll is a natural bump in the landscape, that Bronze Age people saw fit to create a barrow on top of. Without the trees now surrounding it, it would have been a conspicuous landmark.
Not far away, south west of Heath farm (c.TL383414), was a barrow cemetery – again in a prominent position overlooking the route of the Icknield Way. There were originally five round barrows and one square Iron Age barrow (the field is called ‘Five Hill Field’) – but only a couple are barely visible now. There was also a 200m long ‘cross dyke’ thought to be a prehistoric boundary marker.

(info from ‘MAGIC’)

A round barrow near the Icknield Way path, known as Grinnel Hill. It’s about three metres high with a flat top – unusually well preserved for this part of the country.

A named round barrow, not far from the Icknield Way. The name is ‘double’ – Howe itself means a mound. The barrow is Bronze Age, though local people perhaps once thought differently – the vicinity is called ‘Dane Hill’.

Another significant part of the prehistoric landscape around Wandlebury: on Little Trees Hill there is a round barrow, but it is also the site of an older Neolithic causewayed enclosure. The area is accessible – it is part of a nature reserve run by the Madog Trust (see magogtrust.fsnet.co.uk/newmap.htm).

If you’re at Wandlebury you might want to walk out to the nearby Copley Hill – anyone looking at it on map would think it was another Silbury, but actually it’s a round barrow built on top of a natural chalk knoll.

Another part of the prehistoric landscape here has now disappeared – there was a Neolithic longbarrow in the next field to the south of Copley Hill.

Apparently the remains of this circle were used for the site of a court in 1349. The King’s Justiciar was present to explain the seizure of some church property.

How common was this, to use a stone circle? And was the site chosen just to rub the nose of the church in the situation? Has anyone more information?

(Mentioned in Grinsell’s ‘Folklore of Prehistoric Sites in Britain’)

Canmore’s record includes the following:
“A recumbent stone circle, previously known as Tap o’ Mast. Before Dalrymple’s excavation moved them in 1856-7, there were twelve stones forming a circle nearly 60ft (18.3m) in diameter, with the recumbent, its two pillars, and a fourth slab arranged to form two sides of a parallelogram, whose other two sides had traditionally been dry stone walls. This arrangement may have been caused by the district Head Courts held here in medieval times. All that remained in 1902 were the prostrate recumbent stone, the two broken and displaced flankers, and six other blocks, only one of which was in situ.”

Robert Harris, in his ‘Walks in Ancient Wales’, draws attention to these caves which are immediately below the Gop Cairn. Prehistoric burials have been found in the low, natural caverns in the limestone.

He says: “These caves were known and used well before the cairn was erected on the hilltop above... One is large enough to enter easily, and with the help of a torch it is possible to climb into and sit inside a small but comfortable chamber. It would be difficult to sit within it and not be aware of the enormous passage of time and sense the legacy of events which must once have taken place on this ancient hill.”

I noticed this barrow mentioned in Robert Harris’s ‘Walks in Ancient Wales’ today. Curiously, today is St Elmo’s day. He was the patron saint of sailors (and others) and met a rather unfortunate end when his guts were wound onto a windlass. Why should this barrow be named after him? Perhaps someone knows. In the meantime I could spread a completely unfounded suggestion that people have seen weird lights up here – rather like St Elmo’s fire, which is seen around the top of ships’ masts.

There is another barrow lower down the hill near the road, but this is very low and indistinct – the ‘summerhouse’ itself is a large barrow right on the summit of the hill. Dully its RCAMHW record describes that there was a summerhouse plonked on top of it at some point – so that would explain that part of the name – it was part of the Golden Grove landscaped grounds.

Harris describes the spot as follows: “The bank is constructed of loose stone, largely grassed over but with several larger stones still visible... the top of the barrow has been levelled off and has had a building erected on it [now] largely removed but rubble..is still visible. [However] the barrow’s position and size indicate a site that must have been of great importance in its time.”

(Not far away is the village of Gwaenysgor: some may like to visit the churchyard here which has a roughly circular shape – perhaps suggesting the antiquity of its status as a sacred site? The Domesday Book records a delapidated church at the site. In the 19th century a small bronze figure of a saddled horse was found here, which was probably from the Romano-British period.)

CANMORE says that the two standing stones set into the Square in Huntly are the remains of the “Standing Stanes of Strathbogie”, which were 6 stones in a 50ft diameter (probably recumbent) circle.

Grinsell (in ‘Folklore of Prehistoric Sites in Britain) mentions a Court being held at the stones (the circle?) in 1557.

from James Dyer’s ‘Southern England, an archaeological guide‘

Today only low hollows indicated where more than a hundred flint mine shafts lie buried beneath the soil. Seven were excavated in the 1920s – they showed that the pits were dug to reach a seam of nodular flint about 3.4m down. From most of the shafts galleries radiated out (as far as daylight permitted them to be worked). As a new gallery was dug the chalk extracted was deposited in one of the already worked galleries. Some shafts contained cremations and burials, and small barrows were built over the filled=up mines.

“From these remains it is possible to deduce that the mines had been worked intermittently for perhaps 500 years through the Neolithic toMiddle Bronze Age. A new shaft dug every five years would have supplied the needs of a small community, traces of whose village were found north east of the mines” (on the other side of the footpath up the hill).

This ruined cairn seems to have an interesting location, surrounded on its west, south and eastern sides by water – many streams join together in its vicinity. The Mabinogion notes say: “This spot is still called Ynys Bronwen, or the Islet of Bronwen, which is a remarkable confirmation of the genuineness of this discovery.”

Jennifer Westwood in ‘Albion’ has details of its excavation. Originally a standing stone stood alone at the site, and some time after a cairn ring was built around it. A couple of small cists were also found; these had been used for more than one ‘batch’ of Bronze age cremations. The mound which covered it was never particularly high. Pollen analysis showed that when this was built the site was in a meadow covered with buttercups.

There are two round barrows on the smr for hackpen hill. One of them was partially excavated by Canon Greenwell, “a prolific excavator of barrows,” between 1877 and 1889. He found a cremation burial with a bronze dagger as well as a later Saxon inhumation with an iron spear.

Jennifer Westwood (in ‘Albion’) suggests that the ‘Broken Barrow’ is one of three barrows up on the hill (c. SS66425) – but surely it makes more sense that it should be the lone barrow next to Brockenbarrow Farm lower in the valley? The lane by the barrow and the farm is called Brockenbarrow (track) or Brockenbarrow Lane, depending on the age of the map you look at. But having read the story above, there’s the hint that other barrows are in the vicinity, so perhaps it could be one higher up the hill.

Grinsell (quoted in Dyer’s Southern England guide) says that this long barrow is unusual in that it has a wide 5m berm between the mound and the ‘well preserved’ side ditches. It’s thought to be unexcavated. The map shows it lying parallel to the slope on its Wiltshire chalk downland, so I guess it presents the largest and most prominent view when seen from the valley below.

There isn’t much left of this long barrow, according to the Somerset Historic Environment Record. It has been opened up twice in ‘recent’ history (1826 and 1909 – finding various human and animal bones, and a leaf-shaped flint arrowhead) and perhaps the Romans had a look, because pottery and coins from their era have been found too. The barrow is almost on the parish boundary, and is more of a bump these days (perhaps with some stones still remaining).

If you’re easily amused you will be interested to hear that the stream valley to the north of the barrow is called ‘Snail’s Bottom’.

Pen Hill, at the eastern edge of the Mendips is a landmark for many miles – chiefly because of the enormous tv transmitter on top of it. But it must have been an important place in prehistory, as it is the site of a well-preserved longbarrow, a round barrow and a cairn.

In his 1966 book ‘Prehistoric sites in the Mendip, South Cotswold and Bristol Region’ Mr Grinsell suggests there is a bank barrow there too. He admits this would be highly unusual as the few other examples are in South Dorset. At any rate, he spotted a long mound 750ft in length, 2ft high and 24ft wide, extending away from the longbarrow. (this is not mentioned in the smr).

Rather boringly I read in ‘Gloucestershire Barrows 1961-1988’ (in trans brs glouc. arch soc magazine v107) that the seven sisters isn’t a barrow, it’s a filled in quarry.

It would surely be remarkable if people hadn’t been intrigued by the hot springs at Bath since the midsts of time. Cunliffe and Davenport, in their 1985 ‘The Temple of Sulis Minerva..’ confirm that mesolithic flints were found beneath the temple when it was excavated.

They also mention that seventeen pre-Roman Celtic coins were found near the spring. They were ‘fresh and unworn’ in appearance so it’s doubtful they were old coins thrown in later. In that case, these are the earliest votive offerings found.

Three late Mesolithic dwellings were found on Golden Ball Hill in 1997 by a team from Cardiff University. They date from about 4500BC – when people last lived as hunters and gatherers in Britain. They mark the earliest persistent settlements in this area which was later to see the causewayed enclosure of Knap Hill, Silbury Hill, West Kennet Longbarrow and Avebury circle itself.

Mesolithic buildings are incredibly rare in Britain. Sites have been found where temporary structures have left behind the small holes of tent and windbreak poles, but there are few places where the traces of substantial buildings have been found. Here at Golden Ball Hill three flint floors were found, together with post holes and hearth. They were clearly occupied over some length of time.

The floors were made from carefully selected smooth flint pebbles, and the largest of the floors is 10 by 15 metres – a large area suggesting a large building. Archaeologists have dated them by the tiny pieces of flint amongst them, perhaps pieces that just slipped between the rushes that might have been on the floor. No pottery was found, which helps to confirm that the sites are pre-Neolithic. It would have been an ideal spot: well drained, handy for natural flint and with a good view over the game-stocked forest in the Pewsey Vale below.

Middens of mesolithic flint knapping waste have been known on the Hill for ages, but remarkably the buildings have not been noticed before although they were still faintly visible as slight indentations in the turf.

details from British Archaeology Oct 97

In Burl’s ‘Prehistoric Henges’ he states that the huge earthworks of Marden and Durrington Walls, etc are so big, and contain so much evidence of permanent occupation, that they have to be interpreted as settlement sites, rather than ‘henges’.

Clearly ‘ritual’ things were going on at Marden – after all, it contained the Hatfield Barrow, and even has a little henge within its boundary. But its area is huge at 14ha, much bigger than any ‘normal’ henge. Burl (incongruously) says you could park 16,000 cars in it if you wanted. He thinks it was more a territorial centre, with the earthworks having a defensive role, rather than being the henge itself.

I was delighted to find out that it was my favourite, LV Grinsell, together with a CS Taylor, who discovered the carvings on the cist slab. They spotted them in 1956, and the slab was immediately transferred to Bristol Museum.

Although I previously thought this was a bit awful, it’s probably been the best place for it considering the history of the site.

The mound was one of maybe hundreds that used to be clustered on the north heights of the Mendip ridge. It had just been made a Scheduled Monument in 1927 when the farmer on whose land it was requested permission to remove it. ‘It interfered with his farming’ apparently. As you’d expect (?), permission was duly given as long as it could be excavated first. The original excavator found 53 stones laid ‘crazy paving’ style in the centre of the cist, but missed the carvings completely. In 1931 Clutton District Council removed the bulk of the earth for use in road widening.

The cist itself was left in situ, unprotected from the weather. Grinsell and Taylor noticed the carvings on the inside of the SW slab (some were below floor level). The slab itself is very rough shelly-fossilled stone which has been ground down. One corner looks like it’s been reground. There are many cupmarks in addition to the carved feet shapes. You can divide the feet into large and small sizes – and then maybe it’s tempting to romantically link these with the cremated remains that were found in the cist – of two people, one a 30-40 year old adult and the other a 3-8 year old child. The bones were dated to 1920-1735BC.

(info from ‘A Bronze Age Decorated Cist from Pool Farm, West Harptree: new analyses’ – Coles, Gestsdottir, Minnitt. Som. Arch Nat Hist 2000 v144)

The beautiful and unique Bronze Age Mold gold cape was discovered by labourers breaking stone for road building, in 1833. They were digging a mound in a field known as ‘Bryn Yr Ellyllon’ – Hill of the Elves, and it was found crushed and in pieces in a stone-lined grave at the mound’s centre. They also found some amber beads with the skeleton. The pieces were originally thought to be an chest ornament for a horse, but eventually it was reassembled into a strange collar that would have restricted the wearer’s arms.

There’s a copy of the cape in the Mold Library – but hopefully, after many years of campaigns, perhaps the *real* cape will be returned to the town.

By the way, if you go to the British Museum to see it, if you stand in front of the case and squint a bit, you can see your reflection and the cape at the same time, and it looks like you’re wearing the thing. Spooky.

It seems that the vultures descended as soon as it was unearthed and bits spread far and wide. But this page in the Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of London (v 3, 1856) speaks hopefuly of how a fragment had been retrieved, and how it held useful information about the ‘corselet’s original appearance.