jimit

This is really quite a delightful site. Very close to the centre of the bustling market town of Petersfield, an area of sandy heath with a large lake. No better place to play the game of “Spot the barrow” as some stand proud, dominated by noble trees, others lurk shyly in light woodland and some seem to stand guard over the boundary of the little cricket pitch. One or two are difficult to distinguish as there are a few natural tiny hills in the area. To the SW,the dominant Butser Hill. A charming place to exercise the dogs/children, to do a bit of fishing and to search for a distant past.

Disabled: Excellent. Dedicated parking and flat access to the Millennium Walk which encircles the lake. Short cropped grass walks traverse the site with very gentle gradients.

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.