UncleRob

About 3 feet high, hard to judge in a woodland photograph.

There are four tumuli on the OS map for this area. This is the one closest to the path that runs north-west from the Yew Tree Heath car park. It is extremely small and low, and has been crudely plundered in the past.

SU 365 081. Bowl barrow of about 4 feet height in recently cleared woods at Fox Hill. There are others marked on the map but with all the stumps and bumps, I couldn’t identify any. This would have had a clear view across the bogs and the river to the top of Yew Tree Heath (now, the road from Applemore to Beaulieu Road Station)

SU 364 082. The smaller of two bowl barrows off the path from Longdown car park to Fox Hill

SU 364 082. The larger of two bowl barrows close to the path between Longdown car park and Fox Hill.

SU 363 083. Just off the path south of the Longdown car park

The next, and probably best preserved of the barrows near the path (on the east side of the road), looking North. All have been plundered in the past from the look of them.

As you walk up from Coulsdon, heading South, this is the first noticeable round barrow. This photo looks back towards London and it’s between the briar at bottom left and the three little hawthorns.

The north-east option for building a 3rd runway at Heathrow. I have added the cursus as red stripe with the surviving section in purple. This could leave the cursus alone, although it’s not clear what additional supporting infrastructure would be built around the airport and where that would go. This option is unpopular because it involves bulldozing an ancient village.

The north-west option for building a 3rd runway at Heathrow. I have added the cursus as the red stripe, with the surviving section in purple. This would destroy the last section of the Cursus. It seems to be the preferred option among the technocrats, although HM Government are kicking the whole issue into the long grass. It would involve demolishing and rebuilding the M25 motorway, which is unlikely to go down well with the motoring lobby.

“An Iron Age hilltop enclosure with associated field system, plus an 18th century commemorative pyramid on a mound, known as Farley Mount, suggested to be a Bronze Age round barrow (ALK 7418/77)“. This photograph is from 1924, so all of these ditches which are visible today from the air, though somewhat diminished, predate the WW2 anti-aircraft guns which were somewhere nearby.

Sketch of the group of barrows at the SSE end of this visible section of the cursus.

The barrows at the SSE end of the visible section of cursus, looking at 45 degrees to the line of the cursus, with lower sun showing the bank around the largest one.

From the NNW end of the visible section, looking SSE along the cursus.

From aforementioned vantage point, looking SSE. The cursus would have emerged from trees on the right, crossed (if it was there?) the Wraysbury river (which, at least now, is perfectly wade-able), and headed off across the boggy ground, disappearing below the distant hump of Terminal 5 and then across the airport grounds behind that, under the South Perimeter Road and end up in the middle of Stanwell.

Past the northern end of the visible cursus, old gravel pit spoils and an ex-landfill provide a vantage point. Here, to the NNW. The cursus would emerge from the trees on the left, cross where the M25 is now, and end in the trees which make the SW corner of the M25-M4 junction in the background.

A collection of 5 round barrows arranged in a crescent from largest (which has a henge-like bank around it, but no discernible ditch) to smallest (foreground). These butt right up against the cursus. The tallest is perhaps 80cm above the surrounding ground level. There’s no obvious signs of Victorian vicars having had a go with a pickaxe.

Where the more southerly of two paths chops through the cursus, looking NNW.

This is the only remaining section of the cursus that once stretched from the village of Stanwell to the M4-M25 junction. It is the straight line from south-southeast to north-northwest. Round barrows can also be seen next to the southern end of this section (51°29’03.6"N 0°29’41.4"W). The more I look at this satellite photo, the more I start to wonder if other bumps are equally ancient, like oval shapes centered on 51°29’08.2"N 0°29’39.9"W and 51°29’09.9"N 0°29’33.5"W, or two circular shapes at 51°29’09.7"N 0°29’28.7"W.

Assorted stones from another angle

Assorted stones close by Robert’s Cross. Of neolithic significance? hard to say, as any large stone on Herm Common was likely to get mucked about with by quarrymen.

Looking down into the grave. Apologies for the shadow; it was a warm and sunny day!

Up close, the passage tomb is very small, about 7 by 2 feet.

Looking in from the back wall

Looking in at the entrance

From the east side

Approaching Trepied from the west, i.e. the road. The encroachment of ivy over the little stone in the foreground, visibe by comparison with Peter Castle’s 2005 photograph, is a salutary lesson in how things get lost.

Retaining wall, probably repaired in the 19th century

Standing stone outside the entrance to Dehus

The rear wall of Dehus

The face in the capstone. I couldn’t get as good a picture for the “geometric shapes” or the “strung bow” and couldn’t fit them all into one image. Perhaps with some better photographic kit than a mobile phone...

Another side chamber shaped around an unusual crescent-shaped stone on the floor.

Side chamber with 19th century repairs to the capstone / ceiling.

The dramatic interior. The lighting is quite sympathetic as these things go.

Information board outside

The funny little door to Dehus. There is a switch inside the door to illuminate the interior.

Looking west

Looking east, close up on the stones

Looking east

Great aerial photo of the enclosure currently on Bing. Loads of ditches on here that I haven’t seen before in phtotos or on the ground. What is it??!

The sun joins the bones of the ancestors. I like to think there would now have been a massive summer-emulating feast (think p*ss-up and barbecue rather than turkey and sprouts) so as to draw him/her back through sympathetic magic, but who knows what they got up to.

Standing watching the year slip away. You might be able to compare the skyline with the daytime photo at themodernantiquarian.com/post/78543/dorset_cursus_south_to_thickthorn_down.html and thus spot the mound.