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Miscellaneous expand_more 19 miscellaneous posts

Miscellaneous

Gayhurst
Barrow / Cairn Cemetery

Sadly, this cluster of seven round barrows have been destroyed in the process of gravel extraction.
They were excavated prior to destruction, with six satellite barrows providing little of interest.
However, the largest barrow proved to be rather extraordinary, producing a massive amount of cattle bones. Further details can be found on the link below.

Miscellaneous

Dorchester Palisaded Enclosure
Timber Circle

Excavations here in the 1980’s revealed 21 pits, each originally containing an oak post one metre in diameter. They appeared to form the south-western arc of a massive circle with a diameter of about 290 metres. Similar post holes have been discovered at three other sites within Dorchester, suggesting the enclosed area is larger and not forming a regular circle.

Miscellaneous

Whitelow
Cairn(s)

Although situated on the top of Whitelow Hill (I’d have thought there was a clue there), this large cairn was only re-discovered in 1960. Sadly, that seems indicative of the sorry state of affairs with regard to the recording of Lancashire’s prehistoric sites which seems to continue to this day.
The cairn was excavated between 1960 and 1962, finding eight cremation burials, four within urns, dating from the early to middle Bronze Age.

Miscellaneous

Badock’s Wood
Round Barrow(s)

A Bronze Age round barrow later used as the base for a windmill. In 1873AD a passage was dug from the south and friable human remains were found near to the centre. A further investigation in 1922AD produced bone, flint and pottery sherds.

Miscellaneous

Culbone Stone
Christianised Site

The Culbone Stone was re-discovered and re-erected in 1940AD, probably not in its original position. It has a similar shape to that of the stones in the nearby Culbone Hill Stone Row and is thought to have been taken from the row to be placed along a trackway leading down to Culbone church. The ring-cross was probably incised in the 6/7th centuries AD.

Miscellaneous

Mawdesley Blue Stone
Standing Stone / Menhir

“By the road end of Bluestone Lane was a thatched cottage, since rebuilt. A little further up Bluestone Lane, 20 yards or so on the south side of the cottage was a large blue boulder scored, it is said by ice bergs in the ice age. The Bluestone gave its name to the road and was a well known signpost in olden days. The Bluestone was removed during road repairs and taken by the council to a tip. A resident of Bluestone Lane, Mr. H. Rigby persuaded ,the council to bring it back and it now lies in the front garden of his bungalow, which was originally Ash Farm.”

From:

mawdesley-village.co.uk/historymb2.html#Chap2

Miscellaneous

Cwm Mawr Stone Axe Factory
Ancient Mine / Quarry

The exact location of the Cwm Mawr stone axe factory is not known. What we do know is that it’s somewhere on an unnamed little hill immediately to the south of Corndon Hill.

This anonymous little hill is the only source of the picrite, from which the Cwm Mawr stone axes are made, within the region.
This heavy picrite was shaped to form large ‘axe-hammers’ and medium-sized ‘battle-axes’.

Cwm Mawr is the name of a farm on the hill, but the stone axe factory is more likely to be on another farm upon the hill-side.

Miscellaneous

Horslip
Long Barrow

As far as we know, the Horslip long barrow is the oldest monument within the Avebury World Heritage Site. It was partly excavated in 1959, from which a date range of 4240-3810 cal BC was recorded.

Miscellaneous

Copt Howe
Cup and Ring Marks / Rock Art

According to the SMR, there are two boulders here with rock art on them:

The monument includes what are known in rock climbing circles as The Langdale
Boulders, two prehistoric rock art sites in Great Langdale 250m south of Harry
Place. It consists of two very large boulders of Andesitic tuff a few metres
apart upon which a series of prehistoric rock carvings have been made. The
boulders were in their present position when carved upon. The western of the
two boulders, Boulder A, contains the most extensive carvings of the two
rocks. These are found on the vertical east face of the rock and include a
central unmarked `boss’ and multiple concentric circles, one having up to
eleven rings. A linear feature in the shape of a chevron appears to be linked
to the unmarked `boss’ by triple grooves which appear to have been carved
upwards. Many other unusual motifs are present on the rock face. Other
features include numerous `cup’ marks – ie small circular hollows in the
rock. Whilst some of these `cup’ marks are undoubtably man made and are
surrounded by rings, others appear to have been formed by the natural erosion
of mineral deposits within the rock. However, many of these natural `cups‘
have been utilised to form part of the overall pattern and design of the rock
carving. The linear and `boss’ carvings on Boulder A have comparisons with
carvings elsewhere, notably one found at The Glassonby cairn circle in eastern
Cumbria, and Temple Wood in Argyll.
The eastern boulder, Boulder B, has been partially quarried and appears to
have only one carving of two uncompleted rings, together with many natural
`cups’ on the vertical southern face.

Miscellaneous

Whitfield’s Tump
Long Barrow

Tump is a western English dialect word, first recorded at the end of the 16th c.AD, meaning a mound. George Whitefield (pronounced Whitfield) was said to be the greatest orator of his age. A Calvinist evangelist, he preached to thousands in the open air across England and in North America. He is said to have addressed a large crowd from the top of this long barrow in 1743AD. Hence the name, Whitfield’s Tump.

Miscellaneous

The Polisher

The stone`s description as it appears in the SMR (N.M.No.33951):

A recumbent tabular stone 1.4m in length includes grooves and a dished area consistent with its use for the shaping, whetting and polishing of Neolithic stone axes. Excavation around the stone in 1963 demonstrated that it had originally been upright, whilst an iron wedge and a coin showed that it had been split in the 13th century AD.

Miscellaneous

Weather Hill
Henge

Lying on Salisbury Plain, within 8 miles of Stonehenge, this henge was not re-discovered until 1996 when it was spotted from an aerial survey. A subsequent geophysical survey confirmed its presence.

Miscellaneous

Ascott Under Wychwood Barrow
Long Barrow

This barrow was excavated between 1965 and 1970. The bones from between 46 and 49 individuals were found. One skull is said to have an embedded projectile injury. The remains are now stored in the Natural History Museum.

I read somewhere that the stone chamber was removed and now forms a display within Woodstock museum.

I`ve checked with the museum and the stone chamber is no longer on display, but is lying on pallets in their stores.