Chance

Visited Stonehenge for the Autumn Equinox 2016 and had a look for these.
Couldn’t find any trace and when I questioned an E.H. bod, he told me they were safely buried for prosperity.
“We know exactly where they are and we intend to reinstate them in due time”, I was told.

This group of barrows have been greatly reduced by the landscaping of the golf course. You can make out the shape of one or two but they have been much altered.
If you walk around the hedge behind the golf course, there is a complete bell barrow where all the spirits hang out.
This corner of the common was traditionally where all the gypsies, travellers and migrant farm workers use to stay when they travelled through the Marlborough area.

Visited July 2014

Not much more to add to the fieldnotes below. Very neglected round barrow with rabbit burrows on one side. Center clearly dug into with no attempt to repair. Barrow made up of stones and loose earth. On an old O.S. map of the area, two tumuli are marked, the other being further down the hill, next to the road, but this is not recorded on pastscape or the later O.S. maps.

Visited July 2014

This is a classic drive-by TMA site. Again, the site has not been documented as being a Bronze Age bowl barrow as it appears to never have been excavated. Whatever it is, it is strange. I defiantly got a vibe of “who are you?” when I started walking on top of it. This mound is right next to a gate into an arable field and could just be a pile of soil but why would anyone leave it positioned where it is such an obstacle? I took a few pictures as I moved around it and it looks like a round barrow that has been added to. From some angles it is a convincing bowl barrow, but the side nearest the road and gate look like they have been a later addition. The top of the mound has been elongated and is now flat. There looked like a hollow to the south west where soil had been scoped out of the field, maybe to add to the mound. I could feel a slight ditch under my feet on the north and east sections but nothing on the west or south, nearest the road.

Pastscape seem undecided as to it being a windmill mound but there seem to be better locations to build a windmill further up the hill. The road next to the barrow is classified as Roman and links to the Watling Street. This road is defiantly ancient and judging by the about of small ponds either side of it, was a drovers road or some form of animal rearing area. Whether this was pre or post medieval is debatable.

There are/where several barrows close to this site. As these were dug into at a time when scientific investigation techniques where undefined, the results from such digs are inconclusive. Some sites appear to have been reused in the pagan Saxon period, while others have simply been classified a Saxon in origin. There is clear evidence that the area was cultivated or used during the Neolithic, so this could easily be a Bronze Age bowl barrow built by the proceeding generations. Once again, modern excavation is required to answer the questions posed by sites like this, and as that is money driven, we will probably never find out.

Fenny Drayton church is worth visiting and the village, then known as Drayton-in-the-Clay, was also the birth place of George Fox, founder of the Quakers, so, uh ...... hats off to him, “Thou seest how young people go together into vanity, and old people into the earth; thou must forsake all, young and old, keep out of all, and be as a stranger unto all.”

Visited July 2014

Naming this Peckleton barrow rather than Kirkby Mallory was a mistake, as it is nearer the later and a stones’ throw from the racetrack of Mallory Park.

It seems that although this site looks and feels like a barrow, it has never been excavated and so no datable artifacts have been recovered. Regardless of this, someone decided to plant around the site with oak trees as a foam of protection against being ploughed up and this has preserved what remains to this day. A footpath runs right next to the site and on my visit, this path had been re-positioned to run through a glorious potato crop. Maybe the trees were planted when the field changed from being pasture to arable. Whatever the reason, this site looks secure against modern man.

The barrow was covered with nettles but I moved over the top looking for any signs of excavation or intrusion, although it looked clear. There seemed to be a rounded crown to the top and a slight ditch was visible between the oak trees. The back of the barrow sat next to a hedge, but this had been planted well away from the ditch outline which made me think the barrow pre-dated the hedge line. It certainly looked like a barrow rather than a heap of rubble and soil that had been dumped in a field. Currishly the footpath is shown on the O.S. map as passing the barrow on the east, but now it passes on the west.

In conclusion I’d say yes to it being a barrow, for size, position, and the general ambiance of the site. Not that spectacular but who knows what secrets this site may reveal if properly excavated.

Visited July 2014

Made a point of checking out these two barrows as they were the only ones in the area that had officially been declared “round barrows” rather than “mounds”. It would seem they only got to be officially recorded because they were dug into by Sir John Evans in 1851 and an artifact ended up in the Ashmolean.
Willful neglect seems to be the order of the day around these parts when it comes to antiquates, a local tradition that lives on into the present day.

Of the two barrows, the one furthest north at SK 41410079 is barley there. I could just make out a slight dome in the crop height after standing on a gate and looking over the field. I guess the trees around the mound were felled and the whole site ploughed level. Maybe you can see more when the crop is cut but not at this time of the season. It did make a perfect placement for a barrow and the drovers track (a gated road) that runs between the two barrows felt old, although the Romans are credited with most of the roads around here.

The second barrow is in the garden of the old vicarage. I read somewhere that Sir John Evans was the local vicar in 1851 which was probably why he dug into the barrow in the first place. From the lane, you can’t see much of this except mature trees and a high hedge. A gate is placed next to the barrow but access is private. The lane seems to have been widened at some time, with the side of the barrow and ditch being cut into. Again, unless you knew where to look and from what angle, this site is well hidden.

I decided to chance my luck and made enquires to a guy on the front driveway in a large motor home. Initially he seemed a bit hesitant, saying the lady of the house would be back in an hour, but I persisted in my request to photograph the barrow and after checking with the kids playing in the garden, he allowed me access. I walked around the barrow taking pictures and asking the kids what they knew of the site. The side nearest the house had been utilized as an Anderson shelter in WWII but positioned as not to destroy the barrow itself. (Nothing on Pastscape about this addition). I remarked about spirits, but they seemed quiet happy and proud to have this barrow in the back garden. This monument survives well and had a contented vibe about it, which is far more than can said of some of the antiquities in the area.

Hardly worth a visit in itself, but maybe for the drive-by TMA types after visiting the Bosworth Battlefield or Bosworth country park.

The area around this barrow group is not public access and the day I went to look around, there was a tractor working in the opposite field. I was a foot and worked my way down the wooded area which leads to the barrow cemetery. Until recently the whole cemetery had been covered by a plantation.

Although I could make out some of the barrows in the rough grassland that has now replaced the woodland, I couldn’t get close enough for a good investigation. There seemed to be one big barrow on the crest of the ridge and several smaller ones running in a line, down from it. You would get a much clearer picture in the winter months when the grass has died down.

ACCESS
Not a public assess area but try parking on the hard standing at SU 11673 44455, just off the Packway.

Best day to visit any MOD area on the Salisbury Plain training area, is Sunday, after church.

One of at least nine Long barrows which survive in the Stonehenge area, this barrow has suffered a lot of reduction in height and now stands only a meter tall. There is no record of any excavation or knowledge of it’s contents but it would fall into the Early and Middle Neolithic periods (3400-2400 BC), due to it’s overall size and shape. The fact it survives well means it will contain archaeological and environmental evidence relating to the monument and the landscape in which it was constructed. Maybe one day it will be excavated with the latest techniques and solve another piece of the Stonehenge mystery.

One of the better preserved and easily accesable Long barrows within the Stonehenge area is the Knighton Long barrow which is directly behind the Larkhill Camp at SU 12801 45355. Follow the byway off the Packway at SU 11743 44472 to get to this.

The Long barrow which foams the key of the Winterbourne Cross Roads Group is also well worth checking out if there is room at the pull in on the A303.

I was fortunate enough to visit this site in low light which showed up a depression where the barrow was reported to stand.
If the reports of it being constructed as a ‘vaulted tumulus’ similar to Stoney Littleton are correct, the chambers may have extended into the hill.

Not much to see here but I could clearly make out the Murtry Hill stones (see picture)

There was a map of the site by the cycle path but I got the impression that the Saxon cemetery and the position of the Long Barrow had been swapped to put off anybody who might use a metal detector.

Buckland colliery is situated on the opposite side of the hill from the barrow site. Two shafts were sunk in 1879 but they filled with water and no coal was ever produced. The long barrow may have been built over a blind well connecting an underground waterway.

ACCESS
The easiest and quickest route to this site is via the footpath at ST 75083 49920, just past the Great Elm railway bridge.
The barrow was situated at the top of the hill, behind what is now a wooded area, but was originally the old quarry mentioned in the Pastscape record.

Decided I would take the longer but downhill walk to this site. Can’t say I would recommend it to anyone else who would choose to visit, unless they had the time, as it was much easier to visit from the gate by Great Elm.

Ended up doing this site backwards. I photographed it before asking permission. Just as well because when I did go down to the farm, I was told by the neighbour that the farmer was very ill and bed-ridden.

These stones have a very powerful vibe and I could easily understand some of the sites folklore. There is a mound of earth within the compound, which may have been the original covering. The Pastscape notes say that the barrow was opened in 1803-4 which would imply that the structure was undisturbed enough to still contain primary deposit of human bones, and secondary cremations, possibly in urns. If correct, the site may have attracted visitors long after the Neolithic and possibly into the Roman period.

When I visited the visibility was perfect and you could easily see the Barrow Hill Long Barrow. The hilltop occupied by the church in Buckland Dinham was also very prominent in the landscape and I wonder if that too had a place in the prehistoric landscape, being link together by the A362. The springs at the bottom of Buckland Dinham hill are also worth visiting.

ACCESS
Site is on the crest of a hill by Nightingale Lodge and in sight of the Barrow Hill Long Barrow, with the A362 at the bottom of the hill. The surrounding parkland is now a country club and golf course with a footpath up the drive next to the stones.
The area is fenced off and stands like an island amid a sea of corn. I spoke to the estate manager about access after my visit. He had a laugh when I ran some of the folklore stories past him but he hadn’t seen anything himself. He was cool about me going to visit but warned me to look out for the ram which the farmer keeps in the stones compound.

Found some of the stones from this barrow and can confirm the continued presence of the erected “Capping Stone” said to cover the five cambers from this long barrow. I spoke to the current owner of ‘Stonelands’, the property listed on the Pastscape index, who told me that the area had been redeveloped and their stones had now been incorporated into the newer property next door called ‘Leystones’, and that I should talk to Mr.Cuss about the stone in his garden. Although I got no response on ringing the bell at ‘Leystones’, I did walk past their stones on the driveway up to the house and I could see Mr. Cuss’s stone through the hedge. I took pictures from different angels and went on to ring Mr.Cuss’s bell.

Couldn’t put an age on Mr.Cuss but I reckon he had a telegram from Liz on his mantelpiece. He was the very same Mr.Cuss mentioned in the 1965 excavation, a former gardener at Fromefield House. He repeated his statement and “still had not found any re-interred bones”. I asked to take some pictures of his stone, but he refused. It was a very hot day and I think he wanted to get inside for his tea. He was kind but I didn’t linger and bid him good day.

The stone on this property seems to be right next to a hedge and behind a poly-tunnel. The site looked safe and loved, and in a strange way the poly-tunnel acted a bit like the long barrow. I couldn’t find the other stone mentioned, in the garden of ‘Ormonde’, but I left the site having felt I had achieved the object and gained an insight into the sort of stone I was searching for, a tangible glimpse of the craftsmanship and finish this tribe of Neolithic people left behind.

The Somerset Historic Environment Record site gives a map of the developed area with an image of the long barrow superimposed on the new street plan.

At first glance this site looks like a strip of round barrows running along the crest of the hill, but on closer inspection a distinct grouping can be made out. On the pasture east of the wood, three round barrows curve round in a arc with two more lining up in the wood. One of the barrows from this grouping was excavated by Skinner in 1820 and contained a coarse urn, 16” high, 12” wide at mouth with chevron decoration, half filled with a cremation of a young woman.

There are nine other barrows, six of which seem to be paired up one the western end of the wood. Between these stand three barrows in a E-W line. This is where the Beacon was said to have stood. A large circular earthwork, presumably of later date, encircles these three barrows and centres on a single standing stone.

The standing stone is a mystery and looks like it has been moved onto the barrow at a later date, but may have been originally placed elsewhere within the barrow grouping. The O.S. map of the wood gives three parish boundaries meeting on the Fosse way just west of where the barrow stands.

The Romans made several roads around here but to drive the Fosse way directly up the hill and between the two barrow groups was clearly designed as a statement on a conquered territory. The iron-age hillfort of Maesbury Castle lies 3km to the east.

Although the road layout of the old Frome road is roman, there would have been a prehistoric trackway running along top of the Mendip Hills directly in front of the cliff face. The quality of the stone from these hills ensured the extensive re-engineering of the road network, together with extensive building work.

The woodland trust own and manage Beacon Wood with support from the Beacon Hill Society. The wood was brought by the trust in 1993 with funding from Mendip District Council. The woodland has developed over the last 200 years on land that was formally un-enclosed.

The core of this hill is the oldest in Somerset and was laid down by volcanic activity 420 million years ago. Stones formed from lava (called andradite) were overlaid with fragments of explosive debris and ash (called tuff). A layer of Red Sandstone was deposited some 380 million years ago when the climate was sub-tropical desert. Rheon layers of limestone were deposited when the area was under a tropical sea. It is very unusual to see a mix of these types of stone in one small area.

The present crest of the scarp contains rounded pebbles of polished white quartz, known as conglomerates; the rust red colour results from the oxidation of iron minerals under arid conditions. Continued earth movements caused folds and faults to occur and the Mendip Hills were uplifted about 280 million years ago.

ACCESS
No problem parking as there is a pull in just off the old Frome road at ST 63701 46110. An alternative is over the road from this where a small section of the Fosse Way remains as a minor trackway.

Possibly the highest round barrow in Wiltshire, overlooking Adam’s Grave.

Although now destroyed, this may have once been a chambered round barrow judging by the amount of sarsen scattered around the site. Whoever desecrated this barrow made a point of tearing the internal structure apart.

ACCESS
The area around Adams Grave and the Ridgeway car park has been updated.
The old footpath route has been removed and a new set of gates lead the visitor around Walker’s Hill Barrows and along the field boundary onto the White Horse Trail. This is a much improved surface and could possibly carry a wheelchair or pushchair.

From a distance this round barrow looks well defined and does not seem any different from the rest of the humps and bumps that scatter this section of the downs. Only when you get up close can the modern brick and concrete be seen, revealing this barrows’ mutilated core. I’ve seen lots of disfigured barrows, most the result of ploughing, some the result of quarrying and some the result of ancient treasure hunters. This one stands out though, not as the result of what was originally inside but what was placed inside in modern times.

This barrow has the misfortune to overlook Yatesbury Field on the north, West Down to the east and North Down to the south. During the dark days of 1940 when invasion by Nazi Germany was a real possibility, this site was chosen as a Royal Observer Core lookout post and its Bronze Age contents sacrificed for the good of the nation. When Sir Edmund Ironside, Commander-in-Chief Home Forces, laid out plans for the defence of Britain, this area was designated a stop-line where the opposing forces would be expected to fight to the death to stop any advance north.

The WWII structures are well preserved if very overgrown. I did not get into the slip trenches to examine the insides of the bunker as the site smelt like the dumping ground for dead badgers. The remains of the barrow are cut into by the old coach road and I wonder if the height of the barrow was extended by the spoil from the core digging.

Access
I parked up at the Knoll Down lay-by just off the A4 and walked down the old coach road which is now a bridleway. This site was one of the many barrows that are spread over the West Down area. On the south side dry valley below this barrow, runs the Knoll Down earthwork and further south and directly opposite are the two West Down Gallops Barrows.

Of the three barrows listed here, only the larger Bell Barrow survives and this too has been partly ploughed out to the north. Thankfully this northern area has now been set aside and planted up with young Beech trees. The east side of this barrow contains a row of mature beech trees which although interfering with the original ditch, do give the barrow a feeling of shelter and was welcome shade on a hot Lammas day.

The most striking feature of this barrow is the upright sarsen mounted on its summit. Closer examination revealed two more sarsens dumped in the barrows ditch. I read on Pastscape that a lot of the barrows around here had sarsens mounted on them. This may be the result of antiquarian digging, as it seems some of the barrows were originally built over earlier structures or pits. When the barrows were first cut into, the sarsens were probably covering the original feature. One of the barrows to the north, West Down Gallops Barrows, was noted as having a sarsen.

Access
Park in the lay-by on the A361 near to where the Roman Road cut across it. Follow the Roman Road up the hill and the barrow is in the clump of beech trees to your right.

These barrows look easy enough to spot from the O.S. map but the layout of the gallops and field boundaries seem to have changed since the map was printed. The changing use of the land and the management policies followed preserve some sites while others are destroyed forever. These two barrows seem to have survived well, as compared to the earthworks which surround them. I could only spot the Knoll Down Earthwork when I visited, mainly because it was halfway down a hillside and is impossible to plough out. The same cannot be said of the ancient field boundaries which surround these two barrows, which can now only be seen from the air or Google Earth.

The two barrows are covered in thick, course grass which I believe is a form of primitive barley. I don’t know but the area around the gallops looks like unimproved grass land and it is certainly not a good quality pasture suitable for sheep grazing. This felt like a fragment of ancient agriculture and made me wonder as to its purpose in the Bronze Age. If the Beckhampton Avenue did start/end here, what relation did these barrows have to it? Silbury Hill is directly between here and the Sanctuary and the top of Silbury seemed level with this point.

Access
I got the impression by the number of dog walkers I met that although this is not public access land, walkers were tolerated while there was no horse riding activity. I walked around the headlands from the Roman Road to the car park at Knoll Down. Car parking is provided on the A361 lay-by and the lay-by off the A4 at Knoll Down. Beware of thieves in both of these areas and lock away valuables or take them with you.

This site covers a large area with the busy A361 Beckhampton to Devizes road running through the middle. Sections of this road may well be pre-historic and if you follow lay-lines through long barrow orientations, the pre-historic mind set would suggest this to be a major route into Avebury.

Dividing the area up into walkable sections, the most convenient place to park is at SU 05894 67518, marked on the O.S. map as Three Barrows. Although not an official parking place, (the official one being a mile or so further east towards Beckhampton), this spot would allow you to walk and view the cluster of barrows around the original Long Barrow. This field is usually pasture and the barrows can be viewed up close without damage to a crop. Bare in mind this is not public access land. The barrows in this cluster have been excavated by different people over the course of hundreds of years with the result leaving them much reduced in height and shape. The same is true of the barrows on the opposite side of the A361 to the north, which stand out as islands in a sea of corn.

The barrows to the west of Three Barrows are easier to view due to the byways that run across the area. Following the byway that joins the A361 at Three Barrows north, turn right when you meet the Wessex Ridgeway trail and walk up to the plantation strip. On the left are the remains of a ploughed out Bowl barrow, Bishops Cannings 16. In 1951, a large sarsen was removed from this barrow when it was ploughed up. This may indicate that the barrow was built over the top of an earlier site, which was the case of Hemp Knoll Barrow, on the other side of the A361.

Once you reach the point where the Wessex Ridgeway trail meets the Roman Road, SU 04829 68005, turn left and follow the old Roman Road up in the direction of Morgan’s Hill. The barrows here are very impressive and well preserved but alas we know nothing of their contents. They were thought to have been dug into by Hoare and possibly later antiquarians but no firm records exist.

By now your mind will be on your car and the contents. When I travel around this area I usually do so on a bike and don’t have to worry about parking or re-tracing my steps. You will find that the fields have large unploughed headlands and you can easily make your way towards Baltic farm and the byway back to Three Barrows.

An alternative parking place would be the Small Grain Picnic area, next to the North Wilts Golf Club SU 01949 67148. Although a safer place to park, the walk down to North Down is much longer but covers many more sites. If you decide to explore this side of the hill, check out Furze Knoll which is an unexcavated flint mine. On the North of this area is Ranscombe Bottom, a natural fold in the chalk and the source of the River Marden. This would have been a very sacred site to the ancients and a source of pure water for both them and their cattle. Worth viewing but not listed on TMA.

This site has mystery written all over it, one being why the TMA ed’s have not listed it under the West Kennet Avenue.

For the past 78 years, all you could see of this site is the unique, flat topped concrete post that marks the area out from the rest of the Avenue. What a lovely Lammas surprise then to find a caged area with a possie of sweaty archo’s crawling all over it’s subterranean, back to natural, features.

Digging anywhere around Avebury draws the crowds and a “meeter and greeter” is a must if the archo’s are to get down and dirty. I speak from direct experience of the Saxon car park dig in 1988 when every bus load of tourists walked over the site, asking questions and taking pictures, which added days to the dig schedule. It seemed the NT volunteers I spoke to had all been briefed from the same script and it was not until my third visit that I got the full low-down from “Dr.Nic”. It would have been easier to update my knowledge by reading the daily blog set up to supply a less than eager world with the latest word, but it seems to have gone unnoticed on channel TMA.

Site Background

In 1934 and 1935 Alexander Keiller excavated the part of the West Kennet Avenue that runs immediately south from Avebury Henge and the stone circles. Along most of the length that Keiller dug, he found a large hole had been dug in the medieval period, the standing stone pushed over into it and then buried. Here Keiller re-erected the stone in its original position. In other cases only the original socket that the Neolithic people had dug to stand the stone upright survived. Here Keiller placed small concrete obelisks to mark where they had once stood.

But there was one location where Keiller found neither stone nor socket. Instead he found the remains of a large rubbish heap (or midden) together with a number of holes and pits that had been dug into the ground. The finds from this midden show that the site was in use at the beginning of the later Neolithic. This may have been at the time, or a little before, the very earliest parts of the henge and stone circles were being built. Keiller identified this as an occupation site. At least part of this must have been visible when builders of the Avenue put the sarsen stones in place because instead of putting up a stone here they decided to leave a gap and incorporate it into their scheme.

The current dig is part of the “Between the Monuments” investigation which is trying to identify where the ancient people who built Avebury, lived and worked. Between the monuments is a collaborative research project set up between the university of Southampton (Dr. Josh Pollard), university of Leicester (Dr. Mark Gillings), Allen Environmental archaeology (Dr. Mike Allen) and the national Trust (Dr. Ros Cleal & Dr. Nic Snashall).

Although it was very interesting to talk to “Dr.Nic”, the results of this dig will not become clear until after the investigations are finished. I was granted permission to take photos of the site and some of the flint finds.

One thing that came over clearly, and was pointed out by all the “Dr.s” and diggers, was the time and effort the Keiller team had put into both the 1930’s excavation. They all commented on how carefully the area of the original diggers had been at uncovering artefacts and how carefully it had been back filled with the relevant strata and sub-soil.

The overall conclusion I gleamed was that it was more of a working site that habitation site. There were no bones, apart from more modern sheep ones and nearly all the other finds where the result of being washed down from the later settlement on Waden Hill above. The flints seemed to have been purposely buried in groups, not lost individually. Some of the flints were thought to be Paleolithic in age and again, purposely buried in pre-dug pits. The dig also revealed how the natural sub-terrain had been carved out by glacial action at the end of the last ice age, leaving a series of circle features.

If funding is forthcoming, the site may well be re-investigated at the same time next year. Watch this space.

If you ever find yourself cruising around the western end of Lake Geneva, why not heave to, and check out the stones at Lutry. Chances are that you’ll be doing your cruising in a motorcar, which for this particular prehistoric site is a real paradox. Before any roads or tracks were used, the way the original builders wanted you to see the site was from the lake, but if it wasn’t for the motorcar, nobody in the present time would have seen the site at all.

The stones, which date from the Middle Neolithic (ca. 4500-4000 BC), were partially destroyed by a flood and buried under a landslide from the river Lutrive which runs into the lake a couple of hundred meters to the west. The site had been undisturbed for millennia until discovered when the area was being developed for a car park. The stones were carefully excavated and re-erected on the present site in 1986. I had a look around but I could not see any indication to mark were their original position within the modern car park, unlike the post holes in the car park at Stonehenge.

There are now twenty three stones, which seem to form two parts. The first part is made up of twelve standing stones forming a straight line running east to west and this section contains the largest stones. The second section comprises smaller stones ranging from eighty to twenty centimetres in height which form a slight curve. As the stones were partially destroyed, there may have been a mirror of this smaller section on the eastern side.

All the stones are very thin making the stelae very slender. They all show signs of being shaped too, their rounded tops may have been formed to symbolize a head. The fourth stone from the east, on the second row has various engravings. The top has chevrons cut into it which have been interpreted as hair, lower down are five rings, interpreted as female breasts elements and finally at the bottom is a male element shaped like a bottle opener. This stone has been reproduced and takes pride of place in a glass case a little further away in the Simplon passage of the main shopping area. These markings could easily be nothing more than graffiti, carved by a bored adolescent long after the site had been abandoned and passed into ruin.

In some ways the Lutry menhirs are typical of a lot of the Swiss megalithic sites, but their discovery and restoration is unique. Where as most ancient sites have been persevered in some form or another by successive generations of farmers or towns people, the megalithic sites of Switzerland were completely abandoned in the mass exodus and scorched earth policy adopted by the Helvetians and their neighbouring tribes in 58 B.C.

I found this barrow powerful. Although it has been very badly damaged by the MOD track which cuts across it, the site had a welcoming feeling, female and homely. I got a feeling of a community gathering, meeting up here for ritual celebration. Maybe the celebration or ritual occurred in the middle of the hill, between the two barrows.

As in the other barrow, the Iron-Age Earthwork cuts into the barrow with no reverence to the ancestral territory claimed by the barrows position.

This barrow, although the larger of the two barrows, didn’t seem to have the energy of the smaller one. The rutted track made by the MOD traffic runs between the barrow and the Iron-Age Earthwork. This track has cut into the edge of the barrow but apart from this, the barrow is well defined. Records indicate that “a recent hollow in the centre of the mound” is noted in 1926, although no record exists of the contents. The “army triangulation point, concreted into the top” noted in 1972 has also been removed.

For parking, see Fieldnotes for Southly Bridge Barrows

I walked up the bridleway with my bike after visiting the Southly Bridge Barrows. I got the area where the earthworks have been cut in two and left the bike in a wooded area at the bottom of the hill. Although a footpath runs along the base of the hill, I climbed up the rutted track made by the MOD along the spine of the hill. This track has really damaged the barrows and looks like it was made by tanks or heavy duty trucks.

In the Bronze-Age mindset, the hill would had made a natural sacred place when viewed from Sodbury Hill. Two natural hillocks, one at either end of the level hilltop, have both been crafted into burial mounds for the elite. One for a king and the other for a queen maybe? or perhaps a father and son. The Barrow built upon Pickpit Hill would have made up the sacred three hills found throughout the ancient landscape.

The Iron-Age Earthwork raises some questions with relation to these barrows. The Earthwork does not encompass the barrows, but is built right up to them. If the earthwork was defensive and formed a palisade of stakes, they did not claim the ancestors. Were the builders of the defensives taking over from the original Bronze-Age descendants?

The area may had become part of the Royal park at Ludgershall in the reign of Henry III. Leland records that it surrounded Ludgershall Castle (SU 25 SE 3); in 1583 it was two miles in circuit.

Visited late July 2012

This group of barrows are not much to look at now but would had been positioned next to a downland paradise when first constructed in the Bronze age. Below the barrows runs the River Bourne and this section contains many natural fissures where underground water rises to the surface. It would have been a place of great enchantment to ancient man, as well as being a hunting, fishing and food gathering supermarket. Today’s extraction pumping has destroyed the natural habitat, along with a lot of the aquatic wildlife.

Park by the war memorial on the A338 lay-by, and cross the road using the byway (SU 23287 50957). The bridge over the river is very overgrown and looks little used. Once across, follow the bridleway on your right and the barrows are in a clump of scrubland. One barrow has been cut into by the Sunny Hill track but the other is reasonably intact and has been staked off by the MOD with “No Trenching” signs erected.

The area around Leckford Bottom would have been particularly marshy and an obstacle to any force approaching the area using the Sunny Hill track. This would explain why the Iron-age defensive earthworks were constructed to the East of these barrows, along the ridge of Windmill Hill by King Ina.

With most of the barrows or earthworks on this part of Salisbury Plain, a visit in the winter when the vegetation has died back, giving a clearer shape to the sites’ features, is always going to better.

Although this long barrow is close to a main road, I would recommend that you park in the MOD assembly area (SU 20442 52494)

The barrow is quite easy to find and sits next to the only fenced off piece of improved pasture on that part of the training area. I was probably the only person those bullocks had seen all week. With most of the barrows or earthworks on this part of Salisbury Plain, a visit in the winter when the vegetation has died back, giving a clearer shape to the sites’ features, is always going to better.

This is not really what I would call a long barrow. It does not have much of a presence in the landscape and looks like it was put together in a hurry, without much thought to any alignment or positioning. It does not say anything about laying claim to a piece of land or territory. It makes me wonder if it was even built by the “Long Barrow People” at all. The nearby henge would indicate a sizable community of people living or carrying out ritual in the area.

We can only speculate as to what was going on during the late Neolithic but the “Long Barrow People” may have been killed off as a separate race, by people coming in from other parts of Europe. Whether these people came with peaceful intentions or not, they could easily have introduced infections that the native population had never encountered and had no immunity against. This situation occurred time and time again wherever the European explorers came into contact with natives.

Fieldnotes – Visited Late July 2012

Another classic drive-by TMA site. Although these barrows lie within the parish boundary of Pewsey, they are only a field away from the Everleigh Barrow Group and should be considered as a sub-set of that group.

I really wanted to have a good look around this barrow group as it is said to have contained virtually every kind of round barrow from a Bell, Bowl, Disc, Pond, Saucer and even an elusive “Cone” barrow. As it turned out there was no direct access and I couldn’t be bothered to arrange it with the land owner. The last time I visited the area, the farm was a dairy but this time the field was full of very fat and sunburnt pigs. All their mud pools had dried up and the ones that were not in their huts were wondering around looking angrily at anything that came near them. I decided to leave my visit for another day and carried on towards Everleigh and the Plain.

Fieldnotes – Visited Early Aug 2011

Came past this site and the crop had just been harvested so went to investigate. You can just see the twin barrows from the road as they stand out from the stubble. I would imagine that this is the only time of the year they are visible as they have been ploughed down so much in the past. The current plough boy seems to show some respect for them which is more than can be said for the animal that has dug into one side of them. Clearly this would not have happened if the dreaded black hound was still about. Guess the dog gone when the MOD moved in. Went up to see the single barrow behind the wood but the field was still in wheat, so decided against destroying a valuable crop for my antiquarian curiosity. Site made a good example for the drive-by TMA.

Fieldnotes – Visited Late July 2012

Like a lot of prehistoric sites, Godbury lays a forgotten relic of the past. An Iron Age enclosure, it was probably used in cattle breeding as a corral or way station between summer and winter pasture. Whatever it’s original purpose, the area is now ploughed up and planted with wheat or peas. Only the old drovers tracks, with their wide hollows remain to indicate what use this rural part of the old west once was.

I travelled up to the site by the byway which runs next to it, having skirted the bottom of the hill after visiting Old Hat Barrow. I encountered the tenant farmer at the bottom of the hill and asked a few questions about the area. He seemed mystified as to why I wanted to visit such a place but was happy enough for me to carry on with my exploration so long as I didn’t get in the way of the harvest of disturb his birds. He couldn’t tell me anything about the site or the surrounding fields. I asked about Falstone Pond but he reckoned that the pond had dried up years back when the underground aqua fore had been tapped and the water extracted. Seems that this had also reduced parts of the River Bourne to a stream too.

Godbury itself was much overgrown with scrub and decaying trees. The perimeter was planted very close with peas and after working my way round half the site, I decided it would be a thankless task to go any further into the enclosure. Defiantly a site that is best visited in the winter months when the vegetation has died back and the earthwork is more visible.

I was going to have a look at the barrow on Easton Clump, but after seeing the extent of the vegetation, I decided against it at this time.

Old Hat Barrow – Fieldnotes

Visited – End July 2012

Although there are a lot of round barrows around these parts, this one was the only one given a “title”. The description on Pastscape painted a picture of an overgrown mound dug into by wildlife, but it appears the site has seen some TLC since the record was made. Today the barrow looked in excellent condition, complete with protection stakes and warning signs against trenching by MOD employees.

Like most site visits, I used my bike, leaving the Marlborough road opposite Summer Down Farm and continuing down the byway past Hogdown wood and up to the Scrubs. Leaving the track, I walked along the headland, (the field boundary) and up to the edge of the wood and the barrow. The barrow was easy to see from the field, as stated, looked in very good condition.

I met a local walking his dog and asked about the second site of my visit, Godsbury. He told me that the landowner had created a “permissive path” not shown on the map and I should be able to follow this on my bike as it was wide enough for a horse, down the hill and back out onto the byway. This path follows the parish boundary, which is the dotted line shown on the O.S. map. Although the map shows several other barrows around Milton Hill Farm, I fear that they have been ploughed out but I couldn’t really visit them on this occasion as the fields were all in corn and about to be combined.

After reaching the end of the “permissive path”, I came out by a gate onto the byway and found a notice board giving details of the paths created in the area. It showed the paths connected up to The Giants Grave on Milton Hill, so you could explore a lot of the prehistoric sites from there.

Visited Early Aug 2011

An unexamined late Neolithic Long Barrow with slight traces of it’s side ditches.

The barrow is the hangin’ of teenage, green smoking, special brew crew of Bulford.
Wasn’t riding with my possie when I breezed through on the way to Ratfyn and the new Tesco, but had me some pictures and gassed with the kids for 10 mins. Site had a nice vibe to it.
Not much change here on the scrap metal front since the last field notes were written.
Brothers and Sisters this hood needs cleaning up! Where’s Heritage Action when you need ‘em?

Visited Early Aug 2011

A pair of Long Barrows lie just off the Tidworth to Bulford road and are very close to the Devil’s Ditch which forms the county line between Wiltshire and Hampshire. A major track runs next to the barrows and the surrounding area is used as an assembly point for the army. There is an area set aside for parking and the site seems to be a favourite for local dog walkers. Public access is not a problem, although the area to the West is part of the MOD ranges and access is prohibited when the red flags are flying. There are a number of round barrows close by, together with numerous earthworks, some prehistoric while others date from the First World War. Some of these First World War trenches were practice trenches dug by WWI solders prior to digging the real thing in France. The better examples are now listed as protected monuments in their own right.

Not sure if this site is unique in having two long barrows side by side but it is the only one I can remember visiting.

Having visited and read up on a lot of long barrows, in my opinion, the southern one of the pair, SU24NW102 (scheduled Monument WI10193), which is the larger of the two, is the original and dates from the early Neolithic, while the smaller, northern one SU24NW101 (scheduled monument WI10194), appears to be from the later Neolithic. Neither barrow shows signs of excavation or examination and there is certainly no account of any such actions on the Wiltshire Sites and Monuments database.
Both barrows are orientated east-west with SU24NW102 having more pronounced side ditches and the remains of a berm. The other barrow, SU24NW101, shows traces of the side ditches created when it was constructed, although these have silted up over time. Both barrows have been protected by posts all the way around and the sites are clearly marked as protected monuments `

Visited Early Aug 2011

A pair of undisturbed and so, undated bowl barrows. These barrows sit beside the old coach road that once linked Salisbury with Marlborough. This section of the coach road may well be prehistoric as it runs between numerous ancient sites. The barrows are now protected by a border of stakes as is the nearby milestone. The barrows are listed as a Scheduled Monument number WI10181 and are listed on the Wiltshire SMR as SU24NW600 and SU24NW601. The milestone is also listed as SU24NW527.
Although these barrows are hardly impressive and nothing really worth seeing, they are an important landmark when travelling on this area of the plain, especially when calculating your position with the O.S. map. The coach road is also a dedicated public byway and regardless of other military traffic running around the area, should always be open to dedicated antiquarians.

Visited 04/08/2011

Although this round barrow was probably a burial site associated with Ogbury Hillfort, which lies directly over the other side of the River Avon, the current trees have obstructed the view from one to the other.

I travelled up to the barrow from the bottom of Ogbury, past the church and the village pub. Just past this on the right is a bridleway which leads to the foot bridges across the river by great Durnford mill. Once over these narrow foot bridges, I followed what might well be an ancient track linking the two sites. This track had been recently ‘stimmed’ which made it appear like a round green tunnel. It was full of wildlife and I remember walking past some lovely walnut trees with fragrant leaves. Climbing to the top of the hill, the track opens out onto the Woodford road and the NCR 45. Directly over the road is a footpath which overlooks the earthworks of the deserted mediaeval village of Lake. Lake House Barrow is easy to reach from the start of this footpath although at the height of summer it is completely hidden by a high hedge which runs alongside the road.

Lake House itself is a fine Elizabethan structure and can clearly be viewed from the pasture beside the Barrow. This house was once home to the Rev. E. Duke who carried out a lot of early investigations into the ancient remains of the area. The current owner is an ex-police man by the name of Sumner. I think there was a birthday party on the day of my visit as a lot of limo’s with blacked out windows came past me and into the grounds of the house. Security was present at the gates of the drive too.

Visited Hiroshima Day 2011

This not one of those sites that you might happen upon during a Sunday afternoon drive in the country.
True it does lie by the side of a public highway, but the only traffic I saw on my visit was an armoured convoy of Mastiffs and Buffalos practicing their driving skills before carrying out the real thing in Afghanistan. The only guys I spoke to were on the other side of a 12ft high fence topped with razor wire and carrying loaded Sa80’s. They were jovial enough once they realised I was one of those wired archo types who was just checking out the long barrow. One of them got quite excited when I told him there was no record of it ever being opened and it probably still contained the bodies of a Neolithic family from the time before Stonehenge.

The long barrow is a classic Neolithic one, from the early part of the period, being over 180ft long with clear evidence of the side ditches used to create it. It stands on the highest point of Knighton Down, orientated East/West, over looking the vast plain and its training area. To the left lies the Neolithic camp of Robin Hoods Ball with three more Neolithic long barrows, and beyond that, the Bustard Inn. As mentioned above, there is no record of this barrow being opened, although Dr. John Thurnam had been active in the area during his numerous excavations in 1863. The barrow has suffered some damage in more recent times, both from the O.S. who placed a concrete trig point right on top of the barrows’ highest point, and the army who had driven a tracked vehicle up it’s spine in order to reach the highest point in the area. The far end of the barrow also shows signs of being trenched by the army in the 1960’s. Thankfully this kind of damage is now a thing of the past and a series of posts and signs surround the barrow and its side ditches, although the O.S. trig point remains.

If you decide to visit, I recommend you park parallel to the barrow as the road/track next to it is a busy convoy route. Expect to be challenged by armed security too as the barrow lies right next to the Royal Aircraft Establishment and there are highly secure areas only a few feet away. Access is via the Packway, either by the sports ground, just past Durrington Walls and up past the Stonehenge race course or opposite Durrington Down Plantation and the Fargo ammunition area. Consult the O.S. map for the Stonehenge area before you travel.

Old Sarum could be considered as similar to Avebury in terms of its scale, both in its earthly size and its mysterious Lay-Line energy. It has also witnessed many events that have created the kingdom(s) we live in today.

The site is run by English Heritage, but it is only the inner section that the visitor is required to pay an entrance fee (£3.70) to experience. The site is a jewel-in-the-crown kinda place and you should check the EH Old Sarum events page before you decide to visit. The bulk of the site is open 24-7 and public foot paths allow access to all the Neolithic outer banks and ditches, just like Avebury. Parking in the car park is free, although you may be asked to move on at dusk. Boo. There is a campsite next to Old Sarum at Hudson’s Field, Castle Road, Salisbury SP1 3RR (01722-320713)

An excellent network of cycle tracks lead directly from Salisbury City centre, the Railway Station and the Coach parks. These connect up to many of the monuments that make up the Stonehenge sacred landscape and the WHS.

The site is connected to the almost forgotten hillfort of Ogbury, a little further up the majestic Avon valley. This waterway and ancient highway is itself scattered with Tumuli all the way up to Vespasians Camp and the Stonehenge WHS. Although some like the Little Down Barrows at Great Durnford take a bit of finding among the vegetation, others such as the Lake House Barrow have been updated in more recent times.

Fieldnotes – Early Aug 2011

If you can imagine Woodhenge without any concrete posts or The Sanctuary without any blocks, then you can image this site. Oh, and the only plan you get is on the O.S. map, and just the description of the site as below.

Although this site sits just inside the MOD training area, it is very easy to reach and parking is not a problem. I found the wooded area next to the henge to be very tranquil on the day of my visit which pleased me somewhat.
Go armed with the O.S. Explorer 131 map. The whole area is littered with dozens of TMA sites to explore and the old Marlborough coach road which runs next to the site can be driven down when training exercises are not being held.

Be warned, even though you might have the legal right to drive your vehicle down these ancient trackways, they are rough and your vehicle might not be suitable. You might have saved yourself on car insurance but don’t get epic out here and put it to the test.

These days it’s not common for a village to still have a functioning pub but the one that use to serve the old coach road is still doing a good trade in accommodation 200 years on. The coach road may be just a track but the Crown Hotel, Everleigh SN8 3EY (01264 850939) keeps on providing a good bed in old wild Wiltshire. As their website says “The Crown Hotel has now been restyled into new Rhodesian based Hotel and Village pub, yet still keeping the traditional English heritage and history, also known as “The Flame Lily Hotel”.

See also – https://www.everleigh.org/the-crown-hotel/

https://totallyhaunted.co.uk/the-crown-hotel.php

If you come with a couple of mountain bikes, you could explore all the way down the Devils Ditch or cut out to Hot Cross bun for a day. The area around Sidbury Hill contains mucho TMA.

Visited Early Aug 2011

The O.S. map shows this flat topped, ditched bowl barrow as having a overall diameter of c50m, although it doesn’t fell that significant when your standing next to it, but it is positioned at the top of a nice hill. Surrounded by a planted bank of trees it makes a welcome shady spot on a hot summer’s day.

The “compound” next to the barrow, made from shipping containers, is part of the current use the training area is now being put to. This is a major position on the military sat-nav for Warthog convoys and Apache attack helicopters.

Below this barrow, just inside the military danger area lays the source of the Nine Mile River and the old Marlborough coach road.

Visited 05/08/2011

Although clearly marked on the O.S. map as Ratfyn Barrow, I had initial difficulty locating this barrow. After searching around the area I realised it was tucked away in the garden of a 1930’s house. You can just glimpse the top of the barrow over a fence as you reach the crest of the hill between London road and the top of Lords Walk. The pictures here were taken from the garden gate and as I couldn’t see anyone at home, I didn’t bother to ask permission for a closer look. The side of the barrow facing the house seemed well manicured but the back facing the fence did look a little wild with plenty of Verbascum thapsus (Great or Common Mullein) sprouting out of the mound. An interesting garden feature.

Visited 10th April 2011

Stopped and visited this barrow which lies just off the A345 between Netheravon and Figheldean. Barrow is situated in a pasture behind a cottage.

Wiltshire and Swindon Sites and Monument Record class it as an oval barrow, similar to Silver Barrow.
themodernantiquarian.com/site/11962/silver_barrow.html
These barrows are thought to be a transitional type between the small, late Neolithic long barrows and the more common Bell and Bowl barrows. O.G.S. Crawford said it was a long barrow and marked it down as such on his 6” map.

William Hawley opened the barrow in 1910 and found a barbed and tanged arrowhead together with a few pottery sherds. The barrow was measured as 28 paces in diameter by L.V. Grinsell and listed in the Victoria County History in 1957.

I found it to be uninspiring and lacking in any vibes. It may have been disturbed by the army at some time for it now has the “Star of David” sign to ward off those trenching squaddies.

The name “Gallows” refers to a gallows which was erected in the field next to the barrow. The road was used by coaches before being taken over by the army. A policeman was killed by another policeman near here on 1st April 1913 but the gallows were not needed then.

The web link supplied below by the wysefool suggests that “Sarsen stones for Stonehenge were brought down this valley from the Marlborough downs and a mishap lead to one of them ending up at the bottom of the river Avon in Figheldean”. I had a look around the river but couldn’t see anything. Maybe this was the same stone that was in the river at Bulford?. May go back to search in the winter when vegetation dies back.

The Alter stone lies just above the ground surface in the middle of Stonehenge.

The Altar Stone (80) is the largest of all the ‘foreign stones’ at Stonehenge. It is a rectangular recumbent block of sandstone, 16 ft. long by 3.5 ft. wide by 1.75 ft. deep, embedded in the earth so that its top is level with the surface, about 15 ft. within the central sarsen trilithon.

Two fallen members of this trilithon now lie across it (stones 55 and 156), and their weight has probably pressed it down to its present position. Like the adjoining bluestones, it has been carefully dressed to shape, but its exposed surface is now considerably abraded by the feet of visitors.

Pierre-aux-Dames – Musée d’art et d’histoire

Visited 17 September 2008

South of Geneva lies the small municipality of Troinex. This area was absorbed into Savoy in 1754 to become Troinex Savoy, before returning to Geneva in 1815. A treaty was signed on 30 May 1817, making Troinex an independent municipality. During this period an official census of the region was conducted and 1819 finds the first recorded account of the Pierre-aux-Dames.
Several prehistoric monuments were recorded including a large mound with the Pierre-aux-Dames resting upon it’s top, accompanied by two or three other megaliths.

In 1877, the area began to be developed with roads and building plots. The mound was cut into revealing seven tombs dating from the late Bronze Age. According to the discoverers, whose excavations are poorly documented, the graves contained the bodies of a man and several women. It is unclear if the mound was completely destroyed at this point but the megalith was classified as a historic monument in 1921 and has been “maintained” at the Museum of Art and History in Geneva, since 1942.

The 2.5 meter long stone rests in the inner courtyard of the Museum and has doubled up as a water outlet for the garden. It is difficult to imagine how the stone originally rested on the mound as its base has now been levelled with concrete.

The municipality of Troinex asked for it’s return, but the Museum refused on the grounds of security, so in 1998, a high-quality copy was commissioned by the female mayor, M I Beatrice Luscher and created by sculptor, Lukas Grogg. This copy, as well as two other small megaliths, stand outside the Troinex town hall, the Place de la Mairie, on Chemin de la Grand Cour 2, 1256.

Fieldnotes – 15 September 2010

Came by this site earlier today, so stopped and had a look.

No easy way in so climbed over the hedge onto the reservoir from the road. Completely overgrown and unless you knew there was a barrow here, you would dismiss it as just a small spinney. The reservoir looks like it was built in the 1940’s and I would imagine it feeds an MOD site rather than the village of Box.
The “visible” barrow like the reservoir is very overgrown with three trees growing on top of it, a horse chestnut and two oaks, along with much elder and hazel. The mound stands about 2.5m high and about 20m in diameter. The surrounding ditch is more defined on the north east, about 5m wide and up to 0.5m deep but you cannot get a good impression of it due to the undergrowth. It would appear that this one barrow must have been twice the size of the other two, very similar to the bowl barrows found a few miles away at Colerne Park

Really needs a site visit in the depth of winter when the vegetation was died back.

Although not listed on the MAGIC website, there are a number of other round barrows within a mile of here, but the two I visited on the Kingsdown golf course were extremely reduced. Will revisit the area later in the year to get a better impression of the pre-history.

Wildkirchli Caves – Fieldnotes

Visited 18/09/2008

If Wildkirchli sounds like a wild place, that’s because it is.
Wildkirchli means “little church in the wilderness” and collectively refers to a system of caves in the Alpstein massif of Appenzellerland. This region lies in the northeast corner of Switzerland and is entirely surrounded by the Canton of St. Gallen. The town of Appenzell is at the heart of the Appenzellerland and can best be pictured as something out of Willy Wonka’s chocolate land. The Wildkirchli cave system itself is found on the south east flank of the Ebenalp Mountain, which at 5,381 ft above sea level, is the most northerly summit of the Appenzell Alps.

The mountains, with their clean air, became a popular tourist attraction and in 1955 a cable car was built from the village of Wasserauen in the valley below. The cable car station of Ebenalp allows access to the mountains’ high plateau where hiking trails lead to a network of mountain huts and gasthauses,(guest houses). The Wildkirchli caves are a short 15 minute walk below the Ebenalp cable car station. Beyond the caves is a guest house serving light refreshments. The mountain is a popular hiking destination attracting up to 200,000 visitors a year.

The Wildkirchli caves have been a refuge from the outside world for thousands of years. Their isolation at an altitude of 4770 feet cuts them off almost completely. Evidence suggests that the caves were inhabited by cave bears (Ursus spelaeus) throughout the various ice ages, dating back to 90,000 BC. The caves were first mentioned in a description of the Pilatus Mountains by Joachim Vadian in 1524; although the first detailed description by the Capuchin P. Clemns from Appenzell did not appear until 1716 in the book, Naturhistorie des Schweizerlandes, (Natural History of Switzerland) by Johann Jakob Scheuchzer.

In 1621 the caves where first visited by P. Philipp Tanner, after which time the first altar was built. This so-called “cave shrine” consisted of a shallow barrel vault, and had an entrance porch which was later extended. Hermits sort refuge in the caves, the first being Paulus Ulmann in 1658 to 1660. From this time these hermits became known as Waldbrüder. In 1853 the last hermit died after he took a purler when collecting leaves. Various parts of the caves were re-modelled or sealed up with the current altar back wall dating from 1785. In 1860 a new bell tower and small “guesthouse” was constructed, which in 1972 became a small museum.

Between 1903 and 1908, the caves were partly excavated by the St. Gallen archaeologist Emil Bächler (1868–1950). Bächler discovered evidence of habitation dating back to the Palaeolithic period, 50,000 to 30,000 BC. These included traces of Neanderthal humans who he believed may have co-inhabited the caves with hibernating cave bears. Bächler had carried out investigations at other cave sites and in 1940, published his findings in the book, Das alpine Paläolithikum der Schweiz im W., Drachenloch und Wildenmannlisloch.

Although bear worship or arctolatry as it is collectively called, does exisit in many different forms and cultures throughout the world, Emil Bächlers’ speculation on Neanderthal mans’ practice during the Palaeolithic period is today regarded with some scepticism. I have included links to various web sites and downloadable pdf’s with regard to this subject.

The remains of Oldbury long barrow lies on the narrow neck of a prominent chalk ridge towards the west end of Cherhill Down, 85m west of the Cherhill Monument.
The area around the barrow has been greatly disturbed by chalk digging which makes it difficult to define, although a mound 31m long by 20m wide and up to 2.2m high still survives, orientated east to west along the ridge top. This is thought to be the truncated end section of the barrow, the eastern portion having been levelled. The barrows’ original length may have been up to 52m. It’s stated dimensions in 1864 was length 60 feet, breadth 26 feet, and about 3 feet high.
Due to the barrows position on its narrow ridge, there are no surface indications of flanking ditches from which long barrows are normally constructed. These may have been destroyed by slope erosion or the construction method may have been different. The subsequent and extensive chalk workings have reduced any investigations to mere speculation.

Tumulus du Montioux – Sainte Soline

Visited 15 September 2008

This was the final site we visited in the Poitiers region and the nearest to Chaunay where we were staying. The site lies south of Poitiers on the N10 by Chaunay. Turn right at Chaunay then take the D55 to Str-Soline. Turn right again to Bonneul and the site is in a field on the left.

The site is sign posted; and was partly excavated in 1995. It dates from the bronze to Iron age (1800 – 500 BC).Finds include ceramics, flint tools and a sepulchre was discovered under a stone slab. The site consists of a single, unexcavated round barrow and a 50 m long mound with four funeral chambers. See site plan. These date from the Angoumois period and have an Atlantic type layout with a 11 m long corridor with polygonal Cambers.

The walls of the access corridor are composed of pillars alternating with dry stonewalls, but unlike West Kennet Long Barrow, the end chambers have been left open so the feeling of a confined space is lost.

The oldest of the group appears to be the unexcavated round barrow.

La Pierre-Levée (Poitiers) – Fieldnotes

Visited September 14th 2008

My hosts had set aside a Sunday afternoon for the exploration of Poitiers. Having owned a local property for over twenty years, they had shown numerous visitors around it’s ancient streets, cathedral and past Aquitaine splendours. It came as some surprise when I asked to visit the megalithic remains, as they didn’t know of any.

Poitiers was founded by the Pictones tribe and their fortified centre or oppidum was named Lemonum, Celtic for elm, Lemo. Although the Pictones assisted Rome and accepted Roman control when Caesar defeated the Gaulic tribes at the decisive battle of Alesia in 52 B.C., Lemonum became the scene of resistance and it’s oppidum was raised to the ground. Although La Pierre-Levée escaped this destruction, the might of Rome was to be felt alongside it with the construction of the major road from Lemonum (Poitiers) to Avaricum (Bourges) and onto Lugdunum (Lyon). When Poitiers became the capital for the roman province of Gallia Aquitania, aqueducts, baths and a vast amphitheatre, larger than the one at Nîmes, were constructed Unfortunately this was destroyed in 1857 during a period of “modernisation” of the city. Remains of Roman baths complex, built in the 1st century and demolished in the 3rd century, was uncovered 1877 and led to a more civilised conservation approach to the city’s antiquities and history. In 1879 a burial-place and tombs of a number of Christian martyrs, hypogee martyrium were discovered on the heights to the south-east, the names of some of the Christians being preserved in paintings and inscriptions.

La Pierre Levée is located outside the old city walls in the district known as the Dunes. This lies across the river by Le Pont Neuf, which is the start of the old Roman road to Lyon (N151). If following this road into the city, when it becomes the Rue de la Pierre Levee, turn right at the cross roads with Rue du Dolman and the Pierre Levée is in front of you. If travelling out of the centre on Le Pont Neuf, you will need to turn right onto Allee du Petit Tour and then cross over Rue de la Pierre Levee onto Rue du Dolman. La Pierre-Levée is a cultural icon of the city and is well sign posted. La Pierre-Levée lies south-east of the city in the Dunes. Its sandy soil would have yielded poor crops and seems to have been set aside by the Pictones for the revered ancestors. A short distance away is the hypogee martyrium which is also a pre-roman sacred site.

La Pierre Levée means the raised stone or rock and is 22 feet (6.7 m) long, 16 feet (4.9 m) broad by 7 feet (2.1 m) high with a rectangular chamber. The large capstone sits on several supports along the southern side, but is broken and falls to the ground at the northern side. This damage apparently happened in the 18th Century, but facts are unclear as to what caused it. There are accounts of several stones, presumably the “pillars” which held up the northern side, being removed from the site and taken into the city. The site is mentioned in various records from the Middle Ages, with its Latinized name in different ways: Petra-Levata in 1299, Petra-Soupeaze in 1302, Petra-suspense in 1322. The Charter of 1302 also indicates its position: Super dubiam, the Dunes.
Church records indicate that the site was used as a public meeting place and several festivities were held here including the great fair of Saint Luke. The city prison used to stand behind the site but this was demolished after WWII and the area redeveloped.

Hypogee Martyrium – Fieldnotes

Visited September 14th 2008

The Hypogee Martyrium lies a short distance from La Pierre-Levée in the Dunes suburb of Poitiers. The area would appear to have been set aside by the Celtic Pictone tribe for their revered ancestors, if not their deceased.

The ancient heart of this half-buried tomb was only unearthed in 1878 by Father C. La Croix. Notarial and oral tradition had preserved the memory of this field “Chiron martyr” or a “path of martyrs”. In exploring the necropolis, Father C. La Croix. discovered it contained exceptional carvings and inscriptions from the very early Christian period. It would appear that the site had been a place of worship since the Neolithic period and then used by the first Christians before Christianity was adopted by the Roman Empire. The tomb contained the martyred remains of some of these persecuted Christians, together with their earlier pagan companions.

Although we found the Hypogee Martyrium, there was an official notice informing us that the site had been closed to the public by municipal decree on October 5, 1998. It would appear that the museum service of Poitiers had decided the site was in need of restoration and had closed it until this could be carried out. I had to make do with taking a few pictures from outside the gates.

Further information and pictures of the interior can be found on the official museum service web site, along with a tourist guide for the site from 1911.

Pierre du Sacrifice (Boixe A) – Fieldnotes

Visited September 13th 2008

Came to the Forêt-de-Boixe at the end of a long hot day travelling around Charente with some English friends who owned a house in the region. These were normal, non-megalithic folk and were more interested to walk in the forest then looking at barrows or discarded old rocks. We parked up at the side of the road, just off the D18/D116 and as a consequence missed the official car park along with the information board giving details of the monuments, site layout and the history of the forest.

While the rest of the party headed off down the main track to the large clearing in the Chalet Boixe, I scouted around the forest looking in vain for the main tumulus, the Tumulus de la Boixe. After getting disorientated (I’m only told to get lost), I retraced my steps and came upon a little wooden sign saying Dolmen. Thinking this was the Tumulus de la Boixe, which was said to be 30m in diameter and 3m high, I was expecting to come out into a sizable clearing in the forest. Alas the primary objective of the mission was not to be and I had to contend myself with the secondary one in the shape of the Pierre du Sacrifice.

This stone is impressive though being around 4 metres long, 2 metres wide and about 1 to 1.5 meters in thickness. The official national de forest have provided an information board with some interesting facts about it, and artist impressions of the tumulus it came from. Apparently this was, until fairly recently, the largest tumulus in the area, measuring 45 metres in diameter, and standing 4 metres high with a circumference of 140 meters. The board then goes on to say that the tumulus was destroyed in the 19th century during construction of the D18 Mansle to Saint Amant de Boxie road, although this road was originally the old Roman road from from Périgueux to Poitiers called Chaussade Shod or path. Maybe the tumulus was destroyed for its building material when the road was “improved” and this stone was considered to be “cursed” and so is all that remains. See the section on additional folklore which is included below for more on this.

Tumulus de la Boixe – Fieldnotes

Almost visited September 13th 2008

Although I came very close to visiting this site, we parked on the wrong side of the road and missed the offical car-park and the Tumulus completely. See fieldnotes for the Pierre du Sacrifice for the full story.

This site has been now been included on the TMA Google Earth so check it out before visiting and you won’t make the same mistake as I did.

Lake Barrow Group

Field notes – Visited 5th Aug 2007

There are three different and separate barrow groups south of Normanton Down, all of which are within the Wilsford cum Lake parish. Apart from the Lake group, there is the Lake Down barrow group (SU 117 393) which is actually on Lake Down, east of Druids Lodge and above Spring Bottom. The other group is known as the Wilsford Barrow group (SU 118 398) and this sits on the spur between Wilsford Down and Lake Down, on the western slope of Spring Bottom.

The Lake group are located just off the track that runs past Normanton Down and onto the A360 at Druids Lodge. These barrows are on private land but in order to get permission to view them you need to walk past them to Westfield farm.
This group contains at least fifteen bowl-barrows, four bell-barrows, two disc barrows and a long barrow. The farm track separates the main barrows of the group, the northern set containing the long barrow and disc barrows sit in a wood, while on the southern side of the track are two bell and three bowl barrows, one of which has been greatly reduced. To the north-west lay a satellite group of four bowl barrows which were completely excavated by Professor William Grimes in 1959 due to the damage they were under from being ploughed down.

Although Colt Hoare and William Cunnington carried out a lot of the excavations in the area, many of the barrows in this group including both the disc barrows, were opened by a former proprietor, Rev. Edward Duke, unfortunately with little, if any record. The Neolithic long barrow however, aligned north-west to south-east, 42 metres long, 23 metres wide and 2.5 metres high, appears never to have been opened or excavated in any way. The bell and bowl barrows which stand in the triangular open area between the two arms of the wood are the best preserved although the one furthest west is greatly reduced. These were the subject of Duke’s excavations in 1807, but there is doubt as to what he found in which barrow.

The barrows within the wood were difficult to photograph when I visited at the height of summer due to the extensive vegetation. There was a stench of death and I think a badger set had been the scene of slaughter. Some of the barrows had certainly been damaged by burrowing, if not by the tree roots that had engulfed them. I couldn’t get too far into the overgrowth to see the disc barrows or the so-called, Prophet Barrow which was said to be the place a French prophet preached from in 1710.

An interesting barrow group if you have the time to walk down from Stonehenge and get permission to look around them but I would recommend you did this in the winter months when the trees are bare and you can get a clearer view of the barrows.

The Grafton barrow cemetery consists of three disc barrows, two of which overlap, and a bowl barrow which form a unique site. Of the various types of round barrow, nationally disc barrows are rare, with about 250 known examples, most of which are in Wessex. While Bowl barrows are the most numerous form of round barrow, dating from the Late Neolithic to the Late Bronze Age, most examples belonging to the period 2400-1500 BC. Disc barrows, the most fragile type of round barrow are of the early Bronze Age, with most dating to a much shorter 200 year period, possibly between 1400-1200 BC. The setting of this barrow group on a gentle west-facing slope above the floor of a dry valley and not on a more level part of the undulating chalk downland, has added greatly to it’s survival.

When I visited the site in May 2009, I came along the footpath from the Fair Mile to Scots poor. The first section is a good made up road but once the path drops into the valley it becomes a dirt track. The height of the trees surrounding this barrow group makes it a frustrating site to try to photograph. It makes me wonder why the hillside was chosen. The two joined barrows sit on the lower slop with the single disc slightly higher. The Bowl barrow sits on a spur high up the side of the hill and is the most visible today.

Of the three disc barrows, two overlap and have been classified as a single monument by English heritage, although the Wiltshire SMR lists each barrow individually. The two conjoined disc barrows, aligned broadly north- south and set on the lower slope, are both about 46 m in diameter, the northern barrow has a central mound 10m in diameter and 0.75m high surrounded by a berm 7.5m wide. The southern barrow has a central mound l2m across and 0.75m high surrounded by a level berm 10m across.
Both show a hollow on the mound measuring approx 5m by 0.5m and are the results of the 1952 partial excavation by the Newbury District Field Club.

Surrounding the berm of the northern barrow, is a ditch 6m wide by 1m deep and a high outer bank on the west side of the mound, 6m wide and 1.5m high. The southern barrow’s ditch surrounds it’s central area, except to the north where it abuts the southern part of the ditch surrounding the adjacent northern barrow. This may indicate that the order of construction. The ditch has been partly in filled over the years but survives as an earthwork 5m wide and 1m deep. An outer bank defines the maximum extent of the monument, at least on the downhill side where it stands 1.5m high and is 5m across.

The other single disc barrow, SMR No.SU25NE618, National Monument 12267. is called the Heath Copse disc barrow. The English heritage report says the barrow mound stands 1m high surrounded by a berm 9m wide and a quarry ditch 3m wide, the central mound stands 1m high and is c.10m across. Surrounding this is a level berm 9m wide and a ditch, from which material was obtained during construction of the monument. The ditch has been partly in filled over the years but survives as a low earthwork 3m wide and 0.5m deep. This disc barrow is an outstanding example with no evidence for excavation.

The burials, normally cremations, are frequently accompanied by pottery vessels, tools and personal ornaments. It has been suggested that disc barrows were normally used for the burial of women, although this remains unproven. However, it is likely that the individuals buried were of high status.

To get an impression of the site size, along with the surrounding long and round barrows see this aerial view from the SMR history.wiltshire.gov.uk/smr/getsmr.php?id=17835