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Not one but four long barrows not all shown on Streetmap. All sites within less than a mile radius.

W.Barrow marked by post.
E.Barrow by uneven ground.
Long Barrow, W. of Moody’s Down Farm. SU426387.
Long Barrow SE of Middlebarn Farm. SU417382.

Other sites in this group;

2 Bowl Barrows SU436384.
3 ” ” ” 1 visible SU418389.
2 ” ” ” SU406370.
1 ” ” ” SU418362.
1 ” ” ” 17M by 0.6M SU420362.

A remarkable collection within such a small area. The first two long barrows may be unique as they were built within a few metres of one another (Although see Milston Down nr Bulford wiltshire-web.co.uk/history/barrows.htm )
Sadly time has not been kind to these monuments, most are badly damaged or only visible as crop marks. However the loss of the first two is unbelievable, the raised bank of the army firing range (The butt?) was dumped straight on top of them! Even to have put it a few metres to the E would have avoided this wanton damage.

Some confusion here, compare and contrast. The first extract from Hampshire Treasures, the second from Pevsner/Lloyd “The Buildings of England”, “Hants and the IOW”

“Popham Beacons. Situated in arable field, on broad flat top of a prominent hill. The group consists of two bowl barrows, a saucer barrow, a disc barrow and two probable bell barrows.”

“This is a linear cemetery of five barrows. The S site is a fine bell barrow 7ft high and 130ft in diameter, N of it are first a bowl barrow 118ft in diameter and 6ft high and a saucer barrow partly cut through by the building of the former mound and by a second bell barrow. 40ft N is a further bowl barrow, 90ft in diameter and 6ft high.”

From a site visit the first impression is of only 3 barrows as the N barrow is hidden from view aproaching from the field gate. I think that the heights quoted are very much an under-estimation especially for the 1st and 3rd barrows, (Counting from the left ie S) and I would add possibly just about half as much again. Some trees on top which is a shame as they will surely be damaging the barrows. Middle (apparent) barrow lower.The N barrow, a smooth dome, clear of vegetation and shifted E of the line of the first three. Of the other two barrows mentioned, by squinting along the ground I think that I could just make out a vague, circular very shallow ditch between barrows 3 and 4.

A site visit by someone more conversant with barrow types than I am might clear up the confusion.
When I visited it was the begining of what proved to be the hottest day ever recorded in the UK, I will probably return when my brain will be less fried!

The “Three Barrows” mentioned in the original post are described as follows again by Pevsner/Lloyd.

“...The group consists of two disc barrows, a bell barrow and a twin barrow – two mounds surrounded by a common ditch. the disc barrows have been almost obliterated by ploughing and are difficult to detect. The bell barrow, 70ft in diameter and 9ft heigh, was excavated in 1920 and found to cover a central pit containing a cremated male burial. The twin barrow, which was excavated at the same time, proved to have been robbed”

Disabled: Parking at field gate leading straight to site on level grass.

“Occupies an extremely strong position at the N. end of a spur. Defences comprise a single rampart and ditch with traces of a counter-scarp bank in places. There is an additional scarp on the N. up to 2m in height where the site is weakest. Original entrance is in the ridge to the S.”
Hampshire Treasures.

No entry I’m afraid as it’s on a private estate. Visible for miles due in part to the massive Redwoods planted on the summit probably in Victorian times. A surprisingly rural and wooded site so close to Southampton and on the Greensand rather than the Chalk.

Disabled: No access.

An Iron Age settlement overlain by probable Roman earthworks but a Mesolithic quartzite pebble was found here showing that the site has had a very long history.

Unlike Chilworth this modest little square earthwork was not built upon when this suburb of Winchester was extended from the 1950s onwards.
Disabled: Parking at shops opposite. Pavement on three sides, very small and shallow ditch.

“Small univallate hillfort I.A. Bank and outer ditch with 2 possible entrances.”
Hampshire Treasures.
A curiosity or a disaster?
In this very affluent suburb of Southampton an Iron Age hill fort has been converted into a sort of roundabout of detached houses. When was this built upon? None of the houses look much earlier than the 1960s.
The original bank can only be seen in the E. quadrant where it is followed by the road.
The nearby Castle Hill earthwork to the W. was probably a cattle enclosure.
Disabled: Drive-by only for all.

“Bowl Barrow 32M by 1.8M high. 2 ring ditches indicating 2 sites of other barrows”
Hampshire Treasures (Edited)

H.T. says this is 320M across which stirred the imagination but logic prevailed and, as proved correct, the edited version is nearer the truth.
Pretty well preserved with only a tiny chunk taken out by an old (?) farm track on the N. The ring ditches are probably only visible as crop marks from the air.
In this area of gently rolling chalk it commands quite extensive views including the upper reaches of the Test valley.
Almost impossible to photograph as it seems to disappear from sight within a few meters and there are no trees to climb to get a better view.
No info as yet on the origin of the name but it would be great if one of the other barrows was called “Cadabra”!
Disabled: Parking (with permission) at farm but then quite a long hill to site on good grass and track.

“Promontory Fort I.A. Relying on the rivers Test & Dever & marshland to protect other approaches. 1 entrance at centre”
Hampshire Treasures.

An interesting site as the area protected must heve been quite small if, as H.T. suggests, there was extensive marshland to the NE/S. I was expecting a bank but found that it was a pretty large ditch, in places aprox 6/7M below the crest of the W. bank with a berm on the E. side followed by a small bank. Not sure about the last as it seems too small to have had any defensive purpose and is probably just a field boundary.
Heavily wooded and with scrub so the entrance was not obvious. The N. end has been destroyed by the A303 but the S. end fades rapidly by the track with no obvious continuation to the River Dever.
Disabled: Parking close by or “drive by” on farm track but the site is seriously overgrown, see pics.

From Brit Arch 1998 No. 39
“...from one of the two entrances, a ditched avenue led to a large sub-circular enclosure some 30M. across in the centre of the fort. According to Mr Payne, the enclosure may have contained a timber shrine as is thought to have existed at Danebury ”

I was a bit reluctant to visit this site as I had heard that it was completely ploughed out and when I asked permission to walk to the site from the cottage (It’s on private land) the very helpful lady said there was little to see. She suggested that I drive around the field boundary as my passenger couldn’t walk far. It was baking hot, well over 30C and was grateful for the offer so a couple of minutes later I parked the car in the shade of the trees which define the NE/NW quadrants and started exploring.
Pleasantly surprised to find that although the SW/SE part is completely under the plough the remainder is surprisingly intact with a small outer ditch, then a bank, then another larger ditch followed by larger bank.
This part has quite extensive views over the upper reaches of the River Dever, a tributary of the Test.
The only problem is that the ditches and banks are completely smothered with tree and scrub and photography is almost impossible, I did try! However perhaps the vegetation has preserved the remains of the fort as the ground does not fall that steeply on this side and field enlargement would have been quite easy.
Hampshire Treasures describe it as an Iron Age Fort (c600BCE) of univaillate form.
Disabled: Bank and ditch almost impassable but read fieldnotes for access.

Obvious confusion with Silbury, (as Google keeps telling me) one wonders if the name comes from the same root? The trees planted in the 1960s are now being removed (since Sept 2002) and the area allowed to revert to the natural chalk downland. Access is difficult as it is on or near MOD land and there are tank tracks and occasional artillery firings over the area.
I’ve flown over the site hundreds of times as the Parachute Centre I used to belong to (Netheravon) is next door. I loved hanging out the door of the plane trying to spot as many archaeological features as I could, things like the Cursus and the Avenue showed up well in dry summers.

Felt rather sorry for this stone as it is miles from any (known) companion and is leaning badly. Asked at the local farm for permission to walk on their land and was asked for a contribution to the Devon Air Ambulance Service! Pretty cool and no prob. The farmer said that a dowser had found several lines emanating from it but was a bit vague about the details.
There are simple crosses carved near the top on all four faces and the top. I couldn’t see or photograph this as the top of the stone, even in its leaning condition, is 2M+ in height but it can be felt easily enough. The crosses are just two lines at right angles but do I detect a circle round the one on the W face?
The stone doesn’t seem to have been worked, except for the top which is fairly flat. To judge by the debris in the field, the local stone may split naturally into this form.
BTW. The stone is about 50M to the W. of the location shown on Streetmap, across the road somewhere about the “g” of “Long Stone”.

Disabled: Parking on verge opposite stone. Field was/is ploughed.

Chunky stone by the oak and just outside the churchyard. Usual stories by the locals about the Devil trying to throw/carry it elsewhere. Also said that it is a “Sarsen” ie. a foreign stone and not from the immediate area. I’m not a rock expert but it looks to me as being a granite with a pinkish hue. Are there any sources close by? The oak is pretty venerable and has been looked after well including the rotten core being filled with concrete.
Apparently it takes about a dozen guys with crowbars to flip the stone on Nov. 5th.

Disabled: Parking next to stone.

I was looking forward to visiting this site, it looks good on the map, it dominates the Northern side of the Honiton by-pass and A30 and is crowned by some noble trees.
What a disappointment! Parking is up a short,steep track with only room for a couple of cars and the NT sign baldly states its name with no other info.
Following a steep track up, I reached a flatter, semi-mown path which seems to encircle the lower slopes. Following this for a while and not getting any closer to the top, I struck off up hill through waist high bracken to be greeted by a wire mesh fence below the first, rather small, rampart. Scrambling over a broken bit and ducking and diving through the scrub and lower tree branches, I came to another fence on the second rampart. Following this I found a field gate which led to an open field with the Trig Point.
Where’s the view? To the S. the scrub and smaller trees block any sight lines and to the N. and W. the way the hill slopes doesn’t give any sense of this being a commanding defensive site. Somewhat miffed, I negotiated even more fences and scrambled back to the car.
Some sensitive scrub clearance and the removal of at least the lower fence (Does a farmer use the field for pasture?) could make this into a much more visitable site.
Of course one always has the awful thought that just round the next bend in the road is the proper access point with all the info one would need!
Disabled: Drive-by, steep tracks and fences.

Another curious outcropping of the source stones for Stonehenge and Avebury. This is slightly easier to get to compared withThe Mother’s Jam and The Greywethers as it lies in the middle of the little village. It’s a NT property and there is a small explanatory notice at the entrance.
Disabled: Parking on Road, level access to gate, most can be seen from Rd.

This place is quite an astonishing curiosity. It lies underneath a house called, unsurprisingly, “The Caves” and was open to the paying public until about 1840. As you walk down the steps into the main chamber you are presented with the sight of thousands of bones stacked neatly from floor to roof, bones of bear, ox, wolf & deer. Apparently loads more of the more interesting ones were taken away(where to ?). Later the cave belonged to a Bishop Law who reckoned that the bones were proof of the Biblical Flood and put several monuments/ grottos in the garden above to put across his point! Worth a visit although the garden was a bit overgrown when I went there. Access is only granted a couple of times a year, generally on those days when all sorts of other, usually private, places are open. Local newspaper would have the dates.

Although there is not a lot to see as most of the fort is on a private estate, its site is interesting as it complements Danebury across the River Test. Were they friends or in competition? It’s worth the short walk up the hill as the site is a classic example of chalk downland and full of the rich diversity of flora and fauna this area is noted for.

Disabled: Car park on other side of road.

On a really bizarre day for the weather, 25C+ in April, I visited this site for the first time for at least 15 years. Slightly put off by all the notices in the car park warning of thieves. Walked up to the Trig Point by the entrance and was struck by the fact that, although it is the highest point in the immediate neighbourhood, if it was meant to dominate the crossing of the River Test it doesn’t as it is too far away. Mind you the other hills nearer the river are more conical in shape and were probably too small to support a hill town of any size.
The earthworks on the SE side outside the main ramparts are very confusing and it’s difficult to see, to my untrained eye, how they could have been cattle enclosures.
Inside the E. entrance, which is a bit “managed” with a wooden walkway, I was struck by the difference from my last visit. The inner bank and much of the interior used to be quite thickly wooded, now apart from a small group of cherries and an isolated tree the centre and inner bank are mostly empty. The trees were felled as they were diseased although the ones on the perimeter seem to be fine. The clearance did, of course, make the extensive excavations possible.
Although the site is on high downland and is managed grazed, the flora has yet to completely recover and compared to Woolbury it is a bit of a desert. The clumps of brambles on the banks seen to have been cleared by flame throwers, unfortunately this has also killed the grass holding the topsoil and there was much evidence of slippage of the surface. There was more erosion on the tops of the banks caused by walkers. What does one do? I am as guilty as most but do you keep to the worn bits or do you tread elsewhere and spread the problem?
It’s still a pretty grand site though and it’s easy to imagine the thousand or so people that lived here for about 500 years leading a mostly settled and prosperous existence.
Disabled: Long slope up from carpark on grass.

Making enquiries at the nearby pub (as you do) the Plough Inn at Coldharbour, it was pointed out that it is on private land and the owner doesn’t like people “Wandering over his land with Geiger Counters”, the mind boggles! Might try to get his address and request a visit.

It’s worthwhile checking these stones as their setting is spectacular. They sit high on the SW escarpment of the Mendips and command extensive views to the Bristol Channel, the Quantock and Polden Hills. Exmoor can be seen in the far distance and Glastonbury Tor rises from the Somerset Levels below. When I got there unfortunately there was thick hill mist and you couldn’t see a sodding thing! It was a slow drive-by visit so didn’t get to see the site in detail but there seem to be two stones, a tall one to the S and a more squat one to the N about 10-15M away. The site is very near to the car park for the beautiful Ebbor Gorge.

An Iron Age Hill Fort, promenent above the River Itchen (a pre Celtic name) and Winchester. Oval in plan with ditch and bank following the contours. The bank originally topped with a timber pallisade and the entrance on the NE was inturned and protected with watch chambers. Nothing remains of the Chapel of St. Catherine except a small mound and a distinctive clump of trees. A Miz Maze (qv) and to the NE (over M3) the Dongas, the prehistoric and mediaeval trackways worn deeply into the chalk. A modern stone obelisk accuses the people responsible for the vast cutting accommodating the M3! This side of the hill is treated shamefully by the motorway but the W. side has better views and is quiet and peaceful with superb collections of wild flowers and butterflies.

Disabled: From the North car park, several hundred steep steps. From the South West, parking across busy road, long steepish climb on narrow track. From the North East, tiny lay-by gives onto short uphill road and across bridge, steep climb to top. Although this does not give access to the top, this route would give a fine circular trip esp for wheelchair users as the track from the bridge slopes gently down Plague Pits Valley to meet the level path alongside the Itchen Canal which ends at the North car park.

It would be nice to have more up to date info on this mound as the last research done was in the 50s. If it was a “Roman” burial mound it must have been enormous as the present mound has been “truncated and spread” and is still large. Info at the site mentions that it was built over a previous barrow!
It’s position commands extensive views in all directions and would have been visible for miles. Was it the site of the burial of an impotrant chief as it’s dominant position suggests?
There are few enough prehistoric/Roman structures to be seen in the London area perhaps this is one that has escaped the net.

Disabled: Car park within 100M, Level, mown grass.

I had to wait in the car today for a rare (for this area) snowstorm to pass before I could walk to the fort. The light dusting showed the ditch and bank clearly from afar. What is more obvious is that the barrows clearly dominate the skyline for miles around. The fort builders obviously lived in harmony with these relics from an earlier age. The three tumuli in the top look as though they have been robbed in the past, the usual depression in the top, but next door there is a peculiar circular depression with a small bank about 10 M across. Is this the remains of a Bowl barrow or could it be a dew pond? Near the E entrance there is a new (?) circular pond. Near the two entrances are scattered about 13 other barrows. Geophys has found nearly 70 hut platforms on the site. After the blizard had gone the sky cleared and the views were spectacular, I could see Beacon Hill, another fort just outside Newbury and with better eyesight perhaps the barrows on St. Catherines Down on the I.O.W!
Must come here again when the wind chill is not -10 and explore the whole National Nature Reserve.

This large hill fort is situated on a spur of chalk downland just to the E of the River Meon and was probably built as a tribal centre for the valley. It covers an area of about 14 acres with the ramparts following the contours of the hill. The ditch and bank are well preserved and have two entrances E and W where the bank is also higher and incurved. The ground falls steeply on all sides except the E.

Within the fort are three large barrows and a possible Bowl barrow. A long barrow is situated at the bottom of the hill to the SW. The fort has never been excavated but is probably Iron Age.

The views are magnificent covering most of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight

Disabled: Dedicated parking, gently sloping access on grass and tracks to centre of site.

Access Park in lay-by at bottom of hill.
3 steps up through gate then level, rough grass.

Two barrows, once part of a larger group, in the village of Littleton nr. Winchester. The Disc Barrow is remarkably well preserved with finely defined ditch and bank. It is about 55M. diameter, crest to crest. Next door to the smaller Bowl Barrow is a Sarsen Stone, found in the early 20th C. in a farmers field nearby and moved here in the 1950s