Chance

A group of seven carved menhirs in 8 meter diameter circle. The circle sits on top of a mound.

The stones are listed as being 2 meters tall.

The central stone is missing.

A polissor stone created from the local grey limestone.

Recorded as being 1.20m in height

Situated in the D132, 59234

A polissor stone created from the local grey limestone.

Recorded as being 1.10m in height by 1.70m in length.

Situated in front of the church on Rue Paul Chanteau, 59247.

A series of Bowl barrows that stretch in a line over Kingsdown ridge, over looking Box Valley.

One barrow was excavated by Shaw Mellor in 1934. Finds included calcined bone, along with the remains of more than ten human individuals, much intrusive material and a sherd from a collared urn.

Possible Iron Age sherds were also uncovered (ST 81396777)

The remaining stones of this circle, which have hitherto escaped the notice of archreologists, lie immediately in front of Day House Farm, about a quarter of a mile from the village of Coate and two miles from Swindon.

They are now not at all conspicuous, as they are all lying prostrate, and at first sight they appear quite small, but on investigation with an iron bar I found that they are much larger than they appear to be, the greater portion of them being now buried under the turf, for though none of them stand more than about 18in. out of the ground, and several of them only just show above tho surface, yet stone No. 6 on the plan I found to be some 9ft. 6in. long; Nos. 3 and 5 are over 6ft.; and No. 1 is about 5ft. in length.

Stone No. 1, which lies beside the wall of the cow-shed on the western side of the road, seems to be still unbroken, though prostrate and almost buried, as are also the next three stones – 2, 3, and 4 which lie in the grass to the east of the roadway. The distance (11 ft.) between 3 and 4, I take to have been the original distance between the stones all round when the circle was complete — In which case the number of stones would have been about thirty. The circle, however, seems to have been irregular in shape, and varies in its diameter from north to south, and from east to west. As will be seen from the plan, the cow-yards and rick-yards occupy a considerable part of the site of the western side of the circle, and here only one stone is visible — No. 9, in the rick-yard—and that has been mutilated. Doubtless the others, being here more in the way, have been broken up and removed. There is a patch of old pavement of large sarsen stones and several big fragments are lying about loose. The two stones 7 and 8, in front of the house, are the smallest of all, and between-these and 6 there is a wide gap which, after hours of probing with an iron bar, I have hitherto failed to fill up. I have, however, proved that other stones once existed besides those now visible, by digging into the depression between Nos. 4
and 5, and finding in it a piece of burnt sarsen and a quantity of white ashes—probably of straw—clearly pointing to the fact that a stone standing here has been broken up.

The distances between the stones are:— from 1 to 2, 75ft.; from 2 to 3, 58ft. ; from 3 to 4, 11ft. ; from 4 :o 5, 68ft.; from 5 to 6, 30ft.; from 7 to 8, 17ft.; from 8 to 9, 67ft.; and from 9 to 1, 70ft.

In the large grass field to the south west of the farm-house, which borders on the reservoir, at a distance of 18 chains from the circle already described are the three sarsen stones standing by themselves in the middle of the field, of which a plan is given. Of these the one to the eastward is a very large stone lying on its side, some 3ft. high and 7ft. long above ground. The other two are comparatively small stones, but have evidently been broken up. The distance between the stones is in each case 59ft, measuring from the outside of the stones. These stones, as they stand, have much the appearance of having formed part of a circle, but there is no sign of any other stones, or of depressions in the turf from which other stones may have been removed.

Still, an old man informs me that he remembers many large stones in this field being broken up in his early life, and he rather thinks that they stood in a circle. His evidence, however, is not sufficiently strong to build upon.

Near the stones I have found several worked flints and pottery of rude type.

By the side of the road which runs in front of Day House Farm and passes through the circle first mentioned are five stones which may possibly have formed part of an avenue. They lie in a line to the north of the circle, which, if continued, would cut through the circle and through the three stones beyond it, already described. Several of these are stones of considerable size, though only just their upper surface is now visible as they lie beside the road.

The first of these stones is near the main Swindon Road, on the east side of the Day House Road. The other four lie on the opposite side of the road, or in the ditch. The distance between the first and second is 400ft.; between the second and third, 191ft.; between the third and fourth, 65ft.; and the same distance between the fouth and fifth. I cannot find any stone nearer to the circle than this last.

It has been suggested that these stones are lying beside the road because they have been removed from the cultivated fields—
but a stone 6ft. long is such an awkward thing to move that if the only object was to get rid of them they would have been broken up rather than drawn to the roadside. The equal distances, too, between the third and fourth, and fourth and fifth stones, seem to point to their having been intentionally placed there.

At the end of the reservoir, as you approach it from Broome farm, are a number of large sarsens, partly under water when the reservoir is full, some on one side of the road and some on the other. An irregular line of these seems to follow the western shore of the reservoir for some distance, but it is impossible to make out any plan, and probably they are really nothing but a natural drift of sarsens.

At Broome Farm, however, which is close by, is a field which still retains the name of Longstone Field. Here were many standing stones, until they were broken up and carried off to Cricklade. Stukeley mentions them thus:—” Longstones at Broome, near Swindon, Wilts, is a great high stone and a little way off many lesser ones in a row.”

At Hodson, about one and a half miles from Day House Farm, I have noticed a number of sarsens, which may or may not have
formed part of a circle, and from them a line of stones seems to lead in the direction of Coate.

In conclusion, I must express my thanks to Mr. W. Handy, the tenant of Day House Farm, for the kind way in which he has
allowed me to explore his fields.

Notes on an undescribed Stone Circle at Coate, near Swindon.
By A. D. PASSMORE. – W.A.M. No. 27 pages 171 to 174

A Suggested use for “incense cups.”

The Society’s Museum possesses a varied and interesting series of the small vessels of burnt clay, which have, in the absence of exact information, been spoken of as ” Incense Cups.” I venture to suggest that they were used by the Ancient Britons for the very homely but impoertant purpose of containing the material—whether dried moss, dried fungus, or other kind of tinder—used in obtaining fire. They have, without exception, a pair of holes bored on one side, about half-an-inch apart. It has been suggested that these were intended for suspension ; may they not, more probably, have been the orifices through which a cord was passed to tie on the cover. An example from Lambourne, Berks, now in the British Museum, has a lid of the same ware as the cup it self, and ornamented with a corresponding pattern, and in both cup and cover there are two holes, the same distance apart, through which the string was prob»biy passed to fasten on the cover. None of these cups in the Society’s Museum have covers. It is probable that the Lambourne cup is the only one known with this appendage preserved; but lids of wood may h»ve been used, which have decayced in the progress of the centuries. It is evident that the cups could not be used for holding incense, or any other similar substance, if suspended from hoies on one side.

W. Cunnington.

[A circumstance which seems to militate against Mr. Cunnington’s theory is the fact that in most cases the perforations in these little cups are not near the upper edge of the vessel, as one would fancy that they would be if the string passing through them was to serve as a hinge for the lid, but an inch or more, that is to say, one-third of the way down the side of the vessel.— WAM Ed.]

W.A.M. No. 27 pages 174 to 175

Opening of two barrows on Liddington Warren Farm, N. Wilts, 1893.

The first barrow opened is close to a green road leading from Shepherd’s Rest to Marlborough. It is a bowl-shaped barrow, and as it has been ploughed over for many years it has spread over a considerable space, its diameter from north to south being about 68ft., and from east to west 80ft., whilst its height is now only about 4ft. A trench was started on the south-east side, and at 13ft. from the centre the edge of a cairn of sarsens was reached, 3ft. in depth and built up on the original surface-level. The stones were so evenly built in that it was with difficulty that a pickaxe could be forced between them. Following these along they were found to rise within 6in. of the surface of the tumulus. When these had been removed to a depth of 4ft. the original chalk level was reached, when a cist was found in the centre full of burnt hones, on the top of which was the rim of an imperfectly burnt urn, and a small turned conical button pierced under its base in pulley fashion with a hole for the string, apparently of Kimmeridge shale, similar in shape to specimens now in the Stourhead Collection at Devizes.

The second barrow lies in a ploughed field near the 6th milestone from Swindon on the Hungerford Road. It seems really to consist of two barrows joined together. A trench was dug in the eastern most of the two, beginning on the south-east side. At 3ft. from the centre the bottom of an “incense cup” was discovered, and when within 1ft. of the centre the chalk on the original surface level was found to be of a dirty brown colour and was rammed down so hard that the pickaxe would hardly enter it. On the surface of this chalk, and not in a cist, under the centre of the barrow was a heap of burnt bones. Nothing else was found.

A. D. Passmore, Swindon
W.A.M. No. 27 pages 175 to 176

John Aubrey, in his Wiltshire collections, states that this is the site of a “Druidish Temple”.

It would appear that most of the stones were removed from the site, but at least one, standing 10ft high, was recorded standing in situ during Victorian times. This stone, known as the Longstone, along with others from the area were broken up and used in the streets and footpaths of Cricklade.

In 1894, A.D. Passmore noted that the hole the Longstone stood in was still visible in Longstones Field between Coate Road and Broome Lane. A row of smaller stones was also recorded extending in a SW direction.

The Aldbourne Way

A trackway which rises steeply out of Aldbourne (SU 264 759) as a rough hollow lane and continues for a mile until it comes to (7234) Aldbourne Four Barrows (SU 249 772) set in a row. The track then continues past other barrows (SU 237 787) and Liddington Warran Long Barrow (3698), until it meets the Greater Ridgeway (SU 217 805).

The Cave of Niaux is located in Niaux in the Ariège(9) département of south-western France.
Like Lascaux it contains many prehistoric paintings of superior quality, in the case of Niaux from the Magdalenian period.

From the very beginning of the seventeenth century, the cave was of great interest for tourists who left numerous traces on its walls. People, visited the cave, did not imagine that the paintings of the “Salon Noire” were so old. Only in 1906 thanks to captain Molar and his sons who made a plan of the cave and discovered the paintings of the “Salon Noire”. Niaux attracted the specialists’ attention. In 1907 it was investigated by H. Breuill and E.Cartailhac. But discovery of the “Salon Noire” paintings was only the beginning. In 1925 J. Mandeman found a gallery with some black paintings and called it Cartailhac Gallery. Later it was established that the paintings had been emerging on the cave walls during a long period between 11500 and 10500 years BC.

The main entrance to the Niaux cave used for visitors is now further up the hillside than it once was. In ancient times, there would have been several lower, smaller entrances.

The visits to the cave are strictly regulated in order to maintain an even temperature of 12 degrees C and thus preserve the wall drawings of bison, horses and ibex.

July through September there are 11 visits per day of up to 20 people with 45 minutes between each group, including a tour in English at 12:30pm. Three visits per day the rest of the year (no English tours). The caves are not lit up, visitors are handed torches, approximately 1 torch pr. 2 visitors, another measure to protect the paintings. Furthermore there is always the risk for one or two of the torches running out of battery during the visit, small children and anyone afraid of darkness should not go on this tour, once the tour has started there is no turning back. The walk to the paintings lead through both big caves and narrow passages. The cave floor has been left in its natural state: wet, very uneven and slippery in places so sturdy walking shoes are essential. It is recommended to book ahead. However, outside the ticket office a sign indicates how many spaces are left (if any) in the day’s scheduled tours. If you arrive in the morning you might be able to reserve a spot in a tour in the afternoon. But don’t count on this in July and August.

The Cosquer cave is located in the Calanque de Morgiou near Marseille, not very far from Cap Morgiou, in the Bouches-du-Rhône Department(13).

The entrance to the cave is located 37 meters underwater, due to the rise of the Mediterranean in Paleolithic times.
It was discovered by diver Henri Cosquer in 1985, but its contents were not made public until 1991, when three divers became lost in the cave and tragically died.

Today, the cave can be accessed through a 175 meters (574 ft) long tunnel, the entrance of which is located 37 meters (121 ft) below the surface of the sea, because of changes in the relative altitudes of land and sea.
The ancient corresponding shore of Mediterranean sea was then several kilometers away and below as measured from the cave mouth. Sea surface was lower and land altitude higher because large volumes of water were retained in enormous icecaps, making the level of the sea 110 to 120 meters (361 to 394 ft) lower than today, affecting Mean Sea Level as calculated for aproximately 20,000 years ago during the peak of the last major glaciation (Würm glaciation).

The unique feature of this cave is that it contains several dozen works painted and engraved between 27,000 and 19,000 years ago. It is decorated with a variety of land animals, but also with seals and auks, fifty-five hand stencils, and numerous digital markings, dozens of geometric symbols, as well as the extraordinary representation of a “slain man”.

In order to protect this exceptional site, but also for safety reasons, the cave is closed to the public.

The Chauvet-Pont-d’Arc Cave is a cave in the Ardèche department (7) of southern France that contains the earliest known cave paintings, as well as other evidence of Upper Paleolithic life. It is located near the commune of Vallon-Pont-d’Arc on a limestone cliff above the former bed of the Ardèche River.

Discovered in 1994, it is considered one of the most significant prehistoric art sites.

The cave was first explored on December 18, 1994 by a group of three speleologists: Eliette Brunel-Deschamps, Christian Hillaire, and Jean-Marie Chauvet, for whom it was named.

On top of the paintings and other human evidence they also discovered fossilized remains, prints, and markings from a variety of animals, some of which are now extinct. Further study by French archaeologist Jean Clottes has revealed much about the site, though the dating has been the matter of some dispute.

Lascaux is the setting of a complex of caves in southwestern France famous for its Paleolithic cave paintings. The original caves are located near the village of Montignac, in the Dordogne département. They contain some of the best-known Upper Paleolithic art. These paintings are estimated to be 17,300 years old. They primarily consist of primitive images of large animals, most of which are known from fossil evidence to have lived in the area at the time. In 1979, Lascaux was added to the UNESCO World Heritage Sites list along with other prehistoric sites in the Vézère valley.

The cave was discovered on September 12, 1940 by four teenagers, Marcel Ravidat, Jacques Marsal, Georges Agnel, and Simon Coencas, as well as Marcel’s dog, Robot. The cave complex was opened to the public in 1948. By 1955, the carbon dioxide produced by 1,200 visitors per day had visibly damaged the paintings. The cave was closed to the public in 1963 in order to preserve the art. After the cave was closed, the paintings were restored to their original state, and were monitored on a daily basis.

Rooms in the cave include The Hall of the Bulls, the Passageway, the Shaft, the Nave, the Apse, and the Chamber of Felines.

Lascaux II, a replica of two of the cave halls — the Great Hall of the Bulls and the Painted Gallery — was opened in 1983, 200 meters from the original.

Reproductions of other Lascaux artwork can be seen at the Centre of Prehistoric Art at Le Thot, France.

Since 1998 the cave has been beset with a fungus, variously blamed on a new air conditioning system that was installed in the caves, the use of high-powered lights, and the presence of too many visitors.

As of 2008, the cave contained black mold which scientists were and are still trying to keep away from the paintings.
In January 2008, authorities closed the cave for three months even to scientists and preservationists. A single individual was allowed to enter the cave for 20 minutes once a week to monitor climatic conditions. Now only a few scientific experts are allowed to work inside the cave and just for a few days a month but the efforts to remove the mold have taken a toll, leaving dark patches and damaging the pigments on the walls.

The Laténium is an archeology museum located in Hauterive, a suburb of Neuchâtel in the Swiss Canton of Neuchâtel, on the shore of Lake Neuchâtel.

Its name refers to the La Tène culture.

The Laténium is composed of a 2500 m² park, and a museum building which also houses the archaeological section of the University of Neuchâtel.

The park features dolmens and erratic stones, reconstitutions of prehistoric and antique devices (a La Tène house, a gallo-roman ship and a Celtic bridge, notably), and modern works of art. The museum displays the Bevaix Boat, a 20-metre gallo-roman ship found in Bevaix.

Items from periods comprised between the paleolithic to the Roman empire are on display, including the remains of a Magdalenian hunting camp.

The naming of the Altar Stone is due, apparently, to Inigo Jones, who made the first ‘plan’ of Stonehenge in 1620, although the real purpose of the stone is entirely unknown.

The Altar Stone, which is a fine-grained pale green sandstone, is not from the Prescelly Mountains of Pembrokeshire, the source of the of the blue stones, but from the Cosheston Beds (a division of the Old Red Sandstone of South Wales) which crop out on the shores of Milford Haven, further south in the same county.

No other stone composed of this rock is known at Stonehenge, though occasional fragments of it, very probably detached from the Altar Stone itself, have been found in the soil of the site.

Significantly, chips of an entirely different grey-green micaceous sandstone have also been collected on the site, and have been identified with a particular outcrop of the Cosheston Beds at Mill Bay on the south shore of Milford Haven, about 2.5 miles above the ferry at Pembroke Dock.

I have listed this site on the TMA as it needs to be explored.
Although a Round Barrow is clearly marked on early OS 25” maps as a Tumulus, when the site was visited by the Ordnance Survey godfather, O.G.S. Crawford in 1932, he couldn’t locate it.
It is unclear if any aerial photographs were available at the time but O.S. Record Card 001 was created on the site and the later visits by L.V. Grinsell, ensured it got a listing in Volume 1 of the Wiltshire Victoria County History in 1957.

Hiking information and maps

Website showing the highlights from various Appenzerland hiking routes and a map of the Ebenalp area.
All of the hiking routes begin at the Ebenalp Cable Car station and center in the valley east of Wasserauen.

letsgo-europe.com/Switzerland/Appenzell/hiking.html

Website giving the operating times and prices of the Ebenalp cable car.

letsgo-europe.com/Switzerland/Appenzell/ebenalp.html

The Wasserauen – Ebenalp cable car runs approximately every 10 to 15 minutes on the following schedule:

Jan 1 – Apr 30: 7:30am – 5:00pm
May 1 – May 31: 7:30am – 5:30pm
Jun 1 – Jun 30: 7:30am – 6:00pm
Jul 1 – Aug 31: 7:30am – 9:00pm
Sep 1 – Sep 30: 7:30am – 6:00pm
Oct 1 – Nov 1: 7:30am – 5:30pm
Nov 1 – Dec 31: 7:30am – 5:00pm

Ticket prices differ in the summer and winter, and the cable car station does offer group discount rates:

SUMMER TICKETS
May – Nov One-Way Round-Trip
Single Ticket 18 CHF or 11 EUR 25 CHF or 15 EUR
Group of 8 or more 14 CHF or 8.50 EUR 19 CHF or 11.50 EUR
Group of 25 or more 13 CHF or 8 EUR 18 CHF or 11 EUR
Students under 25 8 CHF or 5 EUR 10 CHF or 6 EUR
Children 6-16 half price half price

WINTER TICKETS
Dec – Apr Adults Kids
Morning (until 1pm) 25 CHF or 15 EUR 18 CHF or 11 EUR
Day Pass 33 CHF or 20 EUR 26 CHF or 15.50 EUR
Half-day after 11:30am 28 CHF or 17 EUR 20 CHF or 12 EUR
Half-day after 1pm 25 CHF or 15 EUR 18 CHF or 11 EUR
Night Ski-Pass 20 CHF or 12 EUR 15 CHF or 9 EUR
Season Pass (ages 7-16) 240 CHF
Season Pass (17 and up) 360 CHF

ebenalp.ch/en/homesummer/

The offical website of the Ebenalp cable car is in German but contains a live web cam from the top of the Ebenalp cable car station and gives a clear indication of the current weather conditions

Another and even more interesting example of this class has recently been brought to light by the Hon. W. O. Stanley, at Plas Newydd, not far from the great dolmen represented on woodcut No. 50.

It is a chamber or cist, 3 feet 3 inches wide by about 7 feot long, and covered by two slabs. Before being disturbed, the supporting slabs must have formed nearly perfect walls, thus distinguishing the cist from those standing on widely-spaced legs. Its principal point of interest, however, is the widely-splayed avenue of stones leading up to it, showing that it was always intended to be visited ; and still more curious are the two holes that were pierced in the slab that closed the entrance. The upper part of this slab is now broken off, but so much remains that it is easy to see that they were originally circular and about 10 inches in diameter. Such holed stones are very frequent in Eastern dolmens, and are also common in Cornwall and elsewhere ; but what their purpose may have been has not yet been explained.

Rude stone monuments in all countries their age and their uses by James Fergussion – London 1872 Page 166 to 168

A concentric circle of standing stones, similar to the Sanctuary, located next to and under the M4 at Fir Clump.

The site was surveyed by Mr. R H Reiss, who recorded its measurements as 107m x 86.5m. The outer ring was fragmentary but enough remained of the inner ring to see that it was flattened to the north and measured 86.5 x 73.7m.

About 125m to the west of the circle was a single row of stones aligned NNW-SSE. This was recorded as being 102m long.

Although the site was destroyed during the construction of the East bound M4 Motorway in 1973, some of the stones are said to survive within the vegetation beside the M4 and the current golf course..

The site was classified as Neolithic, given the title Fir Clump, Burderop Wood and listed on the Wiltshire sites and monuments record as SU18SE117

The Manton Down Long Barrow (Neolithic Wessex Map, No.11).

This tomb, sometimes referred to as Doghill Barrow, was again noted by Aubrey, though not I believe by Stukeley, and it received passing mention from Colt Hoare. It is here planned for the first time and is a short oval cairn (with no trace of side ditches) about 60 by 35 feet. At the south-east, higher, and slightly broader end, are remains of a small rectangular chamber, two stones of which remain upright, while others are prone beneath the fractured capstone, which leans on the remaining upright of the south-west side. The dimensions of the chamber are uncertain, but its internal measurements can hardly have been more than six feet square. There is one outlying stone at the southern corner of the mound which may be the remains of a peristalith otherwise vanished—Colt Hoare observed that in his day ” the mound appears to have been set round with stones”, and some remained until about 1913. The small squarish chamber opening more or less directly on to the facade is paralleled in the Cotswolds at, for instance, Randwick, while St. Nicholas (Glam.) is not dissimilar. In Dorset, the Grey Mare and her Colts seems to have an analogous plan, though here access to the chamber must have been made from the side. At Manton it is difficult to judge without excavation, but a frontal entrance seems reasonable to assume from the stones as they now remain.

Notes on some North Wiltshire chambered tombs
By Professor Stuart Piggott F.S.A.
W.A.M. 52 Page 60-61 – 1946

An unrecorded Long Barrow at West Kington.

Between West Kington village and Tormarton the county and parish boundaries run parallel and south of the Burton—Bristol Road ; on this is milestone 12 from Christian Malford ; 475 yards S.W. of this and just south of the road is an unrecorded long barrow discovered by the writer in February, 1939. It is a green mound, noticeably rectangular with square but slightly rounded ends, still standing seven feet high at a point east of the centre. It is 150 feet long by 57 at the S.W. end and just over 60 at the N.E.; its direction is 40 degrees magnetic. Three parts of the barrow are in fine preservation but the N.E. end being in another field has been somewhat ploughed down but is still some feet high and well defined. A hedge passes over it at 45 feet from its termination in that direction. There are no signs of side trenches.
To the north there is a field wall by the road side and a small excavation has been made in the N.W. flank of the barrow for wall stone but it is merely a shallow hollow which has caused very little damage. At the S.W. corner there is a very curious small outwork not connected with the barrow but almost touching it, which is hard to explain.
Close to this spot the six inch O.M. Wilts Sheet XVIII, N.E., marks two small round barrows, Goddard’s No. 1 and 2, West Kington. There is however no trace of these mounds now and it is doubtful if they ever existed. But in tlie next field in its W. corner and close to the head of the long barrow is a small barrow ploughed very low hitherto unrecorded. Over the road to the N. are two round barrows now ploughed very flat. To the E. is a round barrow, Goddard No.3 West Kington. This is a low bowl-shaped mound opened at top, about 50 feet in diameter and three and a half high. It differs from any barrow I have ever seen by having a platform on its S. side, apparently part of the barrow.

A. D. Passmore 1939
W.A.M. Volume 48 – page 466

Early in the year 1864 a paragraph in one of the local papers stated that some skeletons had been found on Oldbury Hill. On visiting the spot it appeared that in digging for chalk for the purpose of making whiting, the workmen had trenched on a barrow. It is situated on the top of an elevated knoll forming a spur on the W.N.W. side of the obelisk. It is in length 60 feet, in breadth 26 feet, and about 3 feet high. The opening made by the labourers was on the S.E. They found three skeletons lying with the heads towards the east, in a large shallow grave surrounded by small blocks of sarsen stone. As far as I could ascertain nothing had been found with the bones. In the earth with which the grave had been filled up was an abundance of rude pottery and flint-flakes.
Although none of the bones had been burned, there was a considerable quantity of charcoal and wood-ashes towards the bottom of the cavity, particularly on the north side. Many of the flint-flakes were burnt, but only one was found wliich showed traces of having been subjected to any manipulation beyond the original flaking. The whole of the barrow had been much disturbed by the workmen, and many of the bones had been carried away by people visiting the spot. The crania were much mutilated, but Dr. Thurnam has kindly examined them and reports that one is the skull of a man, and two those of women. They are of the lengthened oval, or dolichocephalic form, such as are generally found in tlie long barrows of Wiltshire and Gloucestershire. Dr. Thurnham gives the measurement of these crania in his paper, “On the Two principal Forms of Ancient British Skulls.“* From this table (Table II.), it appears that the male skull has the breadth-index as low as .68, and the two female skulls that of .71 and .74 respectively.
On digging in the centre of the barrow a cist six feet eight inches in depth, and about two feet wide, by three feet long, was discovered. It contained no traces whatever of human remains or art, excepting a few wood-ashes, and these may have fallen in accidentally. It is probable that this part of the barrow had been rifled at some former period. A fragment of a bone implement was found in the upper part of the barrow, just under the turf, and a rude, but well-worn muller, of sarsen-stone-both had been partially burnt.
I had trenches dug on the north and north-east sides of the barrow, but no traces of any interment were seen.

* Memoirs of Anthropological Society of London. Vol. i., p. 473.
Notes on a Long Barrow on Oldbury Hill – WAM Vol 13 page 103-4
William Cunnington (Junior) – April 22, 1864.

Accounts on some prehistoric antiquities in the departments of the Vienne and Charente, France.
by A. L. Lewis officer d’ Academic.

The following particulars were collected by me, while attending the meeting of the Congress prehistoric de France, held at Angouleme in August 1912, at which I had the honour of representing the Royal anthropological Institute by request of the council.

There is a fine Dolman, near Poitiers; it is called the “Pierre Levee” and tramcars run from the hotel de Ville past the prison, at the back of which the Dolman stands in a garden at the corner of two roads. The capstone is about 15 feet in extreme length and breadth, and a further length of 4 feet, apparently broken off, lies on the ground at the north east end. The bearings are nearly north-east and south-west; there are the remains of seven supporters, forming originally a chamber, 10 feet wide from northwest to southeast, and 7 feet or 8 feet from north-east to south-west. Of these supporters, two at the south-west end are from 5 feet to 6 feet high, but those are the north-east have fallen and let that end of the capstone down to the ground, so that without excavation it is not possible to say whether another chamber existed there or not. The capstone is nearly 3 feet thick, and on the top of it, near the north corner, are a remarkable boss and ridge.
In the Foret de Boixe, near Vervant, there is a remarkable monument called le Gros Doignon. It consists of a tumulus with a large capstone supported by other stones. On getting down under this stone through a narrow opening, one side of the space beneath it is found to consist of a wall with a large carefully squared opening through it communicating with another rectangular chamber, which is completely covered by the tumulus. Whether this is a later addition, and if so, when it was constructed, I do not know; but when Richard wrote his France Monumental sixty or seventy years ago its existence was apparently unknown, and the only the capstone was to be seen.
About 6 km north from this monument there are were formerly five dolmens, of which only two remain, these are called the great and little Perottes, and stand about 165 feet apart in a line 25 degrees east of north. The great Perotte, which is to the south, consists of a very regular and nearly rectangular chamber 10 1/2 feet internally from north-west to south-east, 9 feet from north-east to south-west, and 6 feet high. Three of the sides have three supporters each, and the fourth (South West) has four; one of the north-east side has been forced inward, and the gap thus made forms the present entrance; one next to it, on the north corner, has sculptured upon it the representations of two stone axis. The capstone is nearly 18 feet long by 13 1/2 feet wide, and from 6 to 8 feet thick. There are other stones, two of which are of great size, and also remains on the tumulus surrounding the chamber.
The Little Perotte is small only by comparison, the capstone being about 14 feet long by 8 1/2 feet wide and 4 feet thick. It has, however, remains of only five supporting stones, but there are what seem to be two smaller capstones covering an entrance passage, or it may be another chamber, on the south-east side. The longest axis of the dolman itself is 25 degrees east of north and west of south. Several stones are scattered about near the two Perottes, which are no doubt remains of other monuments. The material was said to be coralline limestone with terebratula, &c., brought from Chateau-Renand, 3 kilometres distant.
Richard (France Monumental) describes three other dolmens in the neighbourhood, which I suppose were those mentioned to the Congress as having been destroyed.

A. L. Lewis officer d’ Academic
Man, Vol. 14, (1914), pp. 40-42 Published by Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland

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While travelling through France and Switzerland in September 2008, I visited some of the sites mentioned, these being in the Department of Vienne , La Pierre-Levée (Poitiers) and in the Department of Charente , La Grosse Pérotte and it neighbour La Petite Pérotte. Charente is also home to the Forest of Boixe, near Vervant, and although I did not visit the Le Gros Doignon, I did find the capstone from one of the other destroyed monuments in the forest, the aptly titled Pierre du Sacrifice , whose destruction was also mentioned.

The reason this Bronze Age earthwork survives as well as it does is mostly due to it still acting as a boundary between two fields and so has not suffered the plough. A lot of the linear archaeology in the Stonehenge area was flattened by mediaeval ploughing but this well-preserved section of boundary bank and ditch across Wilsford Down has survived and is clearly visible within the modern landscape, both from the ground and the air.

See the detail from the 1810 map of the area by Colt-Hoare for a clearer idea of how this feature fitted into the barrow groups in the area.

Another bank, only intermittently preserved, runs north-westwards from the wood in the Lake barrow group, up to the Winterbourne Stoke barrow group at the junction of Longbarrow Crossroads with the A303. This may have originally been created as a boundary between the two massive Long barrows, each being the centre of the barrow grouping.

The camp at Amesbury called Vespasian’s Camp

The camp near Amesbury, between Stonehenge and the town, upon elevated ground, was, according to Stukeley, commonly called Vespasian’s, and he endorses the name. It is locally known as “the ramparts”. Sir R. Hoare considers that this was originally the stronghold of those numerous Britons who inhabited the plains around Stonehenge, an asylum in times of danger, for their wives, children, and cattle; and that like other camps of the same kind, it was occupied, as occasion or necessity required, by Romans, Saxons, and Danes.
“It occupies the apex of a hill, surrounded on two sides, east and south, by the river Avon, and comprehends within its area 39 acres. It extends in length from south to north, and terminates in a narrow rounded angle at the latter point. It was surrounded by a single vallum, which has been much mutilated on the east side in forming the pleasure grounds of Amesbury Park. The ramparts on the western side towards Stonehenge, are very bold and perfect. It appears to have had two entrances, north and south ; the former still remains perfect and undoubted. The area is planted and fancifully disposed in avenues, walks, &c., near the principal one of which, and on the highest ground, is the appearance of a barrow, but much disfigured in its form.’’ The camp is divided by the high road which passes Stonehenge. In Stukeley’s Common-Place Book, is the following mention of it: ‘’The walls, Vespasian’s camp, as believ’d. The people of Amesbury say the area of it is 40 acres, single trench, one graff towards Stonehenge.” In his ” Stonehenge described,” he describes the camp as “an oblong square, nicely placed upon a flexure of the river, which closes one side and one end of it. There is an old barrow inclos’d in it, which doubtless was one of those belonging to this plain, and to the temple of Stonehenge, before this camp was made”

Stonehenge and its Barrows by William Long, Esq., M.A., F.S.A. 1876

Dr. Thurnam’s account of his opening the Long Barrow in 1863

About a mile-and-a-half to the west of Stonehenge, on the boundary of the parishes of Winterbourne Stoke and Wilsford, is a cluster of circular barrows, which, as in many other instances, are grouped around an immensely long tumulus. The twenty six tumuli, which, in addition to the long barrow, form this group, are mostly of the more elegant, and probably less ancient, forms.
In five, the interment has not been found ; two, however, are those absurdly called ’ pond barrows,’ and probably not sepulchral. Of the twenty one, seven have been raised over the entire body, and fourteen over the burnt remains. All are probably of the ’ bronze period; ’ and in three, containing skeletons, and one, burnt bones, there were fine blades or pins of that metal, one of the last with an ivory handle. Drinking cups, or other earthen vases, were obtained from four of the barrows; and there was a bone pin with another of the deposits after cremation.

The tumulus is about 240 feet in length, and nine in height at the north east end, where it has a breadth of about 65 feet; at the other extremity it is not quite so high or broad. The summit is thrown up almost to an acute ridge, but at the two ends the surface is more rounded. On each side is a trench stretching the whole length of the barrow, but, as usual, not continued round either end.
A large excavation at the south-west extremity, disclosed no sepulchral traces; and this immense mound, with an interment only at one end, was no doubt intended as much for a monument as a tomb. At the north-eastern end., about two feet below the highest part of the tumulus were six skeletons, viz ; one of a man of about sixty years, one of a young woman under twenty, one of a child about seven, and three of infants of less than two years, the youngest, perhaps, featal. The skull of the man lay to the north-east, that of the woman to the south-west. Secondary interments of the Anglo-Saxon period have been found near the summit of long barrows ; but these were obviously British, as shown by the flexed position of the skeletons, by an empty vase of very coarse British pottery, and an oval flint knife. The male skull is well preserved, and of extremely brachycephalic type ; the skulls of the woman and children were obtained in a fragmentary condition, but the latter present the same well-marked type, with the occiput flattened. These interments can hardly have been other than secondary, and of a later date than that for which the tumulus was erected ; and it became a question whether, on the primary interments being reached, the skull would prove of the same, or of dolichocephalic type.

Continuing the excavation, the chalk rubble was dug through, to a depth of six feet, into a stratum of black unctuous earth, of which the lower third of the barrow through its entire length seems to have been formed. At a further depth of three feet, the chalk rock was reached, where were the remains of the original interment ; viz., the skeleton of a man laid on the right side, with the knees drawn up in a closely contracted posture, and the head to the south-west. Close to the right arm, lay a natural bludgeon-shaped flint, about 8 inches long, well adapted for being grasped in the hand; from one end of which numerous flakes had been knocked off. The skull was dolichocephalic ; though less decidedly so than many of the crania from the chambered barrows.
Near the back of the head was a round ‘cist’ or hole, scooped out of the chalk rock, about 18 inches wide and the same in depth. Two feet further to the north, were two similar cists of oval form, but somewhat larger, and scarcely so deep. These holes, like others beneath the long barrows of South Wilts, had perhaps been used for deposits of meat and drink, as a viaticum for the dead ; or possibly for the blood of human victims, whose mangled remains appear often to have been buried with the body of their chief in this class of tumuli. A few scattered bones of sheep and other animals were found near the summit, and about a yard from the feet of the primary interment, was the symphysis of the ischium of an old horse. The skeleton was that of man of less than middle stature ; viz., about 5 feet 6 inches.

Dr. Thurnam’s paper on ” Principal Forms of Ancient British and Gaulish Skulls,” printed in vol. i. of Memoirs of the Anthropological Society of London, 1865.

Account of Bush Barrow made by Leslie V. Grinsell in which he reflects upon other known burials from the same period and attempts to draw together relevant sources. See below for an index of all referances included.

Apparently a large bowl-barrow, probably the most notable round barrow in Wessex for its grave-group.
In the early 18th century it was planted with thorn trees (Stukeley 1740, 46 and TABS XXXII, XXXIII).
The first investigation was on 11 July 1808, when Cunnington explored it but failed to locate the interment. Reluctant to be defeated by a barrow, he had another try in September that year.
The tree roots had not penetrated deep enough to interfere with the primary deposit as the mound (which is c. 120 feet in diameter) was then c. 11 feet high. ‘Contrary to the more general practice we found on the floor of this Barrow the skeleton of a stout and tall man, lying from south to north’. (Most of the other skeletons he had excavated had their head to the N). The extreme length of the thighbone was 20.5 inches, indicating a man around 6 feet tall.
About 18 inches south of the head (which shows that the head was at the south) was a large quantity of bronze rivets intermixed with wood and some thin bits of bronze, these objects covering a space of 12 inches or more. Cunnington and Hoare interpreted this assemblage as the remains of a shield, but Coles (1962, 172) has stated that ‘there seems no possible way in which these objects could be arranged to form a shield. The flat-headed rivets are so short and relatively thick, that they could not have been driven through any wood without splitting it’. This, together with the position of the remains above the head, and their diameter which is small for a shield but about right for a headpiece flattened by pressure from the soil above, makes it most probable that they are the surviving pieces of a helmet, ‘perhaps utilising wooden plates as scales’. A possible parallel, from a Minoan chamber tomb at Ayios loannis near Knossos, also above the head of a fragmentary skeleton, is dated to c. 1450 B.C. (Hood 1956).
The interment has been reconstructed by Ashbee (I960, 77) on the assumption that it was in the extended posture. Cunnington’s account provides no evidence of this; but parallels of Early Bronze Age chieftains’ interments in Germany and Brittany suggest that this could well be the case. (S. Piggott 1965, 127, Fig. 67).
The disposition of the rest of the grave furnishings was:
Near the shoulders, a flanged axe of copper or bronze with impression of cloth on blade, and traces of wooden knee-shaft handle (Thomas 1966). Near the right arm, a large six-riveted copper dagger of Gerloffs Armorico-British A type with traces of wood on blade, and handle of wood inlaid with a zig-zag pattern formed by an immense number of minute gold pins in poinlille style, for which there are parallels in Armorica. Near this dagger was a small lozenge-shaped plate of sheet gold with incised ornament, which Cunnington thought may have belonged to the sheath of the dagger. Near the right arm was also a large bronze grooved dagger of Gerloff’s Armorico-British B type. Beneath the fingers of the right hand was a ‘lance head of brass, but so much corroded that it broke to pieces in taking out’.
On the breast was a large lozenge-shaped plate of sheet gold bearing incised ornament; it was originally ‘fixed to a thin piece of wood over the edges of which the Gold was wrapped’, and it is holed at the top and bottom corners for fastening to the dress as a breast plate. On the right side of the skeleton was a polished and perforated mace-head of fossil Stromaloporoid believed to
be from the area of Teignmouth in South Devon; around its hole are traces of a bronze ring with which it was attached to its shaft by a bronze pin. Near this mace-head were 3 cylindrical bone mounts of zig-zag form and two end-pieces of the same material, believed to be the fittings for either the shaft of the mace-head or some other baton of authority.
They resemble those from shaft grave Iota in Grave Circle B at Mycenae, in the National Archaeological Museum at Athens (8623-4) but not illustrated by Mylonas (1973); they accompanied a male adult skeleton with a bronze sword and are dated c. 1600/1550 B.C. Similar examples in gold were found in a dolmen at Kerlagat in the Morbihan (Le Rouzic 1931; Taylor 1978). These in turn might have been inspired from the Eastern Mediterranean. The gold belt hook was near the right arm. If the Aegean parallels are meaningful the date of the Bush Barrow burial could approximate to that of shaft grave Iota (c. 1600/1550 BC) rather than that of the bronze rivets which are too generalised for close dating in them-selves.

A letter from Hoare to Cunnington, dated June 1810, states that ‘Bush Barrow should be completed and filled up’; it was evidently not properly filled in until at least a year and nine months after it was dug.

L. V. Grinsell, Stonehenge Barrow Groups (1979), page 30
Other referances in the above post made by Grinsell are listed as:-
Stukeley, W., 1740. Stonehenge: a Temple Restor’d to the British Druids.
Coles, J.M., 1962. ‘European Bronze Age shields’. Proc. Prehist. Soc. 28, 1 56-90.
Hood, M..S.F., 1956. ‘Another warrior-grave from Ayios loannis near Knossos.’ Annual of British School in Athens. 51,81 -99.
Ashbee, Paul, 1960. The Bronze Age Round Barrow in Britain.
Piggott, S., 1965. Ancient Europe, Edinburgh.
Thomas, N. et at., 1966. ‘Notes on some Early Bronze Age objects in Devices Museum’. W.A.M. 61, 1-8.
Mylonas, G.E., 1973. Grave Circle B at Mycenae (in Greek; English summary). Athens.
Le Rouzic. Z., 1931. Bijoux en Or decouverts dans les dolmens du Morbihan. Dijon.
Taylor, J.J., 1978. Bronze Age Goldwork of the British Isles. Cambridge.

No. 158.
Though Dr. Stukeley has given an engraving of this tumulus, under the title of BUSH BARROW, it does not appear that he ever attempted to open it. It was formerly fenced round and planted with trees, and its exterior at present bears a very rough appearance from being covered with furze and heath. The first attempts made by Mr. Cunnington on this barrow proved unsuccessful, as also those of some farmers, who tried their skill in digging into it. Our researches were renewed in September, 1808, and we were amply repaid for our perseverance and former disappointment. On reaching the floor of the barrow, we discovered the skeleton of a stout and tall man lying from south to north: the extreme length of his thigh bone was 20 inches. About 18 inches south of the head, we found several brass rivets intermixed with wood, and some thin bits of brass nearly decomposed. These articles covered a space of 19, inches or more ; it is probable, therefore, that they were the mouldered remains of a shield. Near the shoulders lay the fine celt* TUMULI PLATE XXVI No. 1, the lower end of which owes its great preservation to having been originally inserted within a handle of wood. Near the right arm was a large dagger of brass, and a spear-head of the same metal, full thirteen inches long, and the largest we have ever found, though not so neat in its pattern as some others of an inferior size which have been engraved in our work. These were accompanied by a curious article of gold, which I conceive had originally decorated the case of the dagger, TUMULI PLATE XXVII, NO.I . The handle of wood belonging to this instrument, No. 2, exceeds any thing we have yet seen, both in design and execution, and could not be surpassed (if indeed equalled) by the most able workman of modern times. By the annexed engraving, you will immediately recognize the British zigzag, or the modern Vandyke pattern, which was formed with a labour and exactness almost unaccountable, by thousands of gold rivets, smaller than the smallest pin. The head of the handle, though exhibiting no variety of pattern, was also formed by the same kind of studding. So very minute, indeed, were these pins, that our labourers had thrown out thousands of them with their shovel, and scattered them in every direction, before, by the necessary aid of a magnifying glass, we could discover what they were; but fortunately enough remained attached to the wood to enable us to develop the pattern. Beneath the fingers of the right hand lay a lancehead of brass, but so much corroded that it broke to pieces on moving. Immediately over the breast of the skeleton was a large plate of gold, TUMULI PLATE XXVI, in the form of a lozenge, and measuring 7 inches by 6. It was fixed to a thin piece of wood, over the edges of which the gold was lapped: it is perforated at top and bottom, for the purpose, probably, of fastening it to the dress as a breast-plate. The even surface of this noble ornament is relieved by indented lines, checques, and zigzags, following the shape of the outline, and forming lozenge within lozenge, diminishing gradually towards the centre. We next discovered, on the right side of the skeleton, a very curious perforated stone, some wrought articles of bone, many small rings of the same material, and another article of gold PLATE XXVII, No. 3,4, 5 . The stone is made out of a fossil mass of tubularia, and polished ; rather of an egg form, or as a farmer who was present, observed, resembling the top of a large gimlet. It had a wooden handle, which was fixed into the perforation in the centre, and encircled by a neat ornament of brass, part of which still adheres to the stone. As this stone bears no marks of wear or attrition, I can hardly consider it to have been used as a domestic implement, and from the circumstance of its being composed of a mass of seaworms, or little serpents, I think we may not be too fanciful in considering it an article of consequence. We know, by history, that much importance was attached by the ancients to the serpent, and I have before had occasion to mention the veneration with which the glain nadroeth was esteemed by the Britons ; and my classical readers will recollect the fanciful story related by Pliny on this subject, who says, that the Druid’s egg was formed by the scum of a vast multitude of serpents twisted and conjured up together. This stone, therefore, which contains a mass of serpularia, or little serpents, might have been held in great veneration by the Britons, and considered of sufficient importance to merit a place amongst the many rich and valuable relicks deposited in this tumulus with the body of the deceased.

William Cunnington, Manuscript Letters, Vol. 10, p. 9-13

Account of William Stukeley’s diggings on a disc barrow in the Normanton Down group:

We dug up one of those I call Druid’s barrows, a small tump inclos’d in a large circular ditch. I chose that next to bushbarrow, westward of it. Stonehenge bears hence north-east. We made a cross section ten foot each way, three foot broad over its center, upon the cardinal points. At length we found a squarish hole cut into the solid chalk, in the center of the tumulus. It was three foot and a half, i.e. two cubits long, and near two foot broad, i.e. one cubit: pointing to Stonehenge directly. It was a cubit and half deep from the surface. This was the domus exilis Plutonia cover’d with artificial earth, not above a foot thick from the surface. In this little grave we found all the burnt bones of a man, but no signs of an urn. The bank of the circular ditch is on the outside, and is 12 cubits broad. The ditch is 6 cubits broad (the Druid’s staff) the area is 70 cubits in diameter. The whole 100.

Stonehenge, A Temple Restor’d to the British Druids, by William Stukeley, 1740

The following account of the Cursus group of barrows comes from William Stukeley in 1740 and moves westwards.
On the 1810 map by Hoare, the numbers would equate to 28 onwards.
This account contains all we know of the contains from some of these barrows.

In 1722, my late Lord Pembroke, Earl Thomas, who was pleas’d to favour my inquiries at this place, open’d a barrow, in order to find the position of the body observ’d in these early days. He pitch’d upon one of those south of Stonehenge, close upon the road thither from Wilton: and on the east side of the road. ‘Tis one of the double barrows, or where two are inclos’d in one ditch: one of those, which I suppose the later kind, and of a fine turn’d bell-fashion. It may be seen in Plate IX. On the west side, he made a section from the top to the bottom, an intire segment, from center to circumference. The manner of composition of the barrow was good earth, quite thro’, except a coat of chalk of about two foot thickness, covering it quite over, under the turf. Hence it appears, that the method of making these barrows was to dig up the turf for a great space round, till the barrow was brought to its intended bulk. Then with the chalk, dug out of the environing ditch, they powder’d it all over. So that for a considerable time, these barrows must have look’d white: even for some number of years. And the notion of sanctity annex’d to them, forbid people trampling on them, till perfectly settled and turf’d over. Hence the neatness of their form to this day. At the top or center of this barrow, not above three foot under the surface, my Lord found the skeleton of the interr’d; perfect, of a reasonable size, the head lying toward Stonehenge, or northward.

The year following, in order to prosecute this inquiry, by my Lord’s order, I begun upon a barrow north of Stonehenge, in that group south of the cursus. ‘Tis one of the double barrows there: and the more easterly, and lower of the two: likewise somewhat less. It was reasonable to believe, this was the sepulture of a man and his wise: and that the lesser was the female: and so it prov’d, at least a daughter. We made a large cut on the top from east to west. After the turf taken off, we came to the layer of chalk, as before, then fine garden mould. About three foot below the surface, a layer of flints, humouring the convexity of the barrow. These flints are gather’d from the surface of the downs in some places, especially where it has been plow’d. This being about a foot thick, rested on a layer of soft mould another foot: in which was inclos’d an urn full of bones. This urn was of unbak’d clay, of a dark reddish colour: crumbled into pieces. It had been rudely wrought with small mouldings round the verge, and other circular channels on the outside, with several indentures between, made with a pointed tool, as depicted in Plate XXXII. where I have drawn all the sorts of things found in this barrow.

The bones had been burnt, and crouded all together in a little heap, not so much as a hat crown would contain. The collar bone, and one side of the under-jaw are grav’d in their true magnitude. It appears to have been a girl of about 14 years old, by their bulk and the great quantity of female ornaments mix’d with the bones, all which we gather’d. Beads of all sorts, and in great number, of glass of divers colours, most yellow, one black. Many single, many in long pieces notch’d between, so as to resemble a string of beads, and these were generally of a blue colour. There were many of amber, of all shapes and sizes, flat squares, long squares, round, oblong, little and great. Likewise many of earth, of different shapes, magnitude and colour, some little and white, many large and flattish like a button, others like a pully. But all had holes to run a string thro’, either thro’ their diameter, or sides. Many of the button sort seem to have been cover’d with metal, there being a rim work’d in them, wherein to turn the edge of the covering. One of these was cover’d with a thin film of pure gold. These were the young lady’s ornaments. And had all undergone the fire: so that what would easily consume fell to pieces as soon as handled. Much of the amber burnt half thro’. This person was a heroin, for we found the head of her javelin in brass. At bottom are two holes for the pins that fastned it to the staff. Besides, there was a sharp bodkin, round at one end, square at the other, where it went into a handle. I still preserve whatever is permanent of these trinkets. But we recompos’d the ashes of the illustrious defunct, and cover’d them with earth. Leaving visible marks at top, of the barrow having been open’d, to dissuade any other from again disturbing them: and this was our practice in all the rest.
Then we op’d the next barrow to it, inclos’d in the same ditch, which we suppos’d the husband or father of this lady. At fourteen inches deep, the mould being mix’d with chalk, we came to the intire skeleton of a man. The skull and all the bones exceedingly rotten and perish’d, thro’ length of time. Tho’ this was a barrow of the latest sort, as we conjecture. The body lay north and south, the head to the north, as that Lord Pembroke open’d.

Stukeley then goes on to descried the rest of the barrow group looking west. The largest barrow, Amesbury G55 was marked as No.40 by Hoare as ‘in point of size, the monarch of the plain’.

Next, I went westward, to a group of barrows whence Stonehenge bears east north-east. Here is a large barrow ditch’d about, but of an ancient make. On that side next Stonehenge are ten lesser, small, and as it were crouded together. South of the great one is another barrow, larger than those of the group, but not equalling the first. It would seem, that a man and his wife were bury’d in the two larger, and that the rest were of their children or dependants. One of the small ones, 20 cubits in diameter, I cut thro’, with a pit nine foot in diameter, to the surface of the natural chalk, in the center of the barrow; where was a little hole cut. A child’s body (as it seems) had been burnt here, and cover’d up in that hole: but thro’ the length of time consum’d. From three foot deep, we found much wood ashes soft and black as ink, same little bits of an urn, and black and red earth very rotten. Some small lumps of earth red as vermilion: some flints burnt thro’. Toward the bottom a great quantity of ashes and burnt bones. From this place I could count 128 barrows in sight.

Stonehenge, A Temple Restor’d to the British Druids, by William Stukeley, 1740

The following account of Stonehenge and it’s many Barrows comes from 1740:

I COME in the last place to speak of the barrows, observable in great numbers, round Stonehenge. We may very readily count fifty at a time, in sight, from the place; easily distinguishable: but especially in the evening, when the sloping rays of the sun shine on the ground beyond them. These barrows are the artificial ornaments of this vast and open plain. And it is no small entertainment for a curious person, to remark their beauties, their variety in form and magnitude, their situation. They are generally of a very elegant campaniform shape, and done with great nicety. There is likewise a great variety in their shape, and turn, and in their diameters, in their manner of composition. In general, they are always upon elevated ground, and in sight of the temple of Stonehenge. For they all regard it. This shews, they are but superficial inspectors of things, that fancy from hence, great battels on the plain; and that these are the tumultuary burials of the slain. Quite otherwise; they are assuredly, the single sepulchres of kings, and great personages, buried during a considerable space of time, and that in peace. There are many groups of them together, and as family burial places; the variety in them, seems to indicate some note of difference in the persons there interr’d, well known in those ages. Probably the priests and laity were someway distinguish’d; as well as different orders and stations in them. Most of the barrows have little ditches around, extremely well defin’d. In many is a circular ditch 60 cubits in diameter, with a very small tumulus in the center. 60 or even too cubits is a very common diameter in the large barrows. Often, they are set in rows, and equidistant, so as to produce a regular and pretty appearance, and with some particular regard to the parts of the temple, the avenues, or the cursus.

From: Stonehenge, A Temple Restor’d to the British Druids, by William Stukeley

The following account of the ridge eastwards of Stonehenge by William Stukeley, giving the term Old and New, to the Barrow groups.

At the bottom of the valley, and the end of the strait part of Stonehenge avenue, 100 cubits from Stonehenge, as we said, the eastern wing of the avenue turns off to the right, with a circular sweep, and then in a strait line proceeds eastward up the hill.

It goes just between those two most conspicuous groups of barrows, crowning the ridg of that hill eastward of Stonehenge; between it and Vespasian’s camp, separated from them both by a deep valley on each side. These two groups of barrows are called generally the seven king’s graves, each. I call that most northerly, the old seven kings graves, for there are really 7, tho’ but 6 most apparent; they are all set at greater distance, all broader, flatter, and as it is most reasonable to suppose, older than the other.

The other are set closer together, of a more elegantly turn’d figure, campaniform, and in all appearance, much later than the former. Therefore I call these, being southward and directly between Stonehenge and the town of Ambresbury, the new seven kings barrows. Of the seven old, the most northerly one and probably the oldest, is exceeding flat and as it were, almost sunk into the earth with age; so that it is scarce visible at a distance. The avenue runs up to the top of the hill, just between them: and they make as it were wings to it, and I believe were design’d as such, when set there.

Stonehenge, A Temple Restor’d to the British Druids, by William Stukeley, 1740

Although enclosing 25 ha, this oval-shaped hillfort has little natural strength.
Its ramparts still stands 2-4 m high, though its ditch has long since been silted up.

There are a number of gaps in the earthworks – the one on the east is usually considered to be ancient.

William Stukeley and Richard Colt Hoare referred to internal enclosures and these were noted on the aerial photographs taken by 0. G. S. Crawford and A. Keiller which are included in their 1928 book, Wessex from the Air.
This would point to the camp being used as an agricultural enclosure or tribal meeting place, rather than a defensive work.

For a very similar arrangement, with two overlapping disc barrows and a single, see the Grafton Disc Barrows TMA site

themodernantiquarian.com/site/12064/grafton_disc_barrows.html

For a very similar arrangement, with two overlapping disc barrows and a single, see this TMA site
themodernantiquarian.com/site/11124/setley_plain_disc_barrows.html

Four Barrows briefly shot to fame with an audience of 9 million in 1971 when Prof. Horner broke through the burial chamber on Beltane eve, live on BBC3.

It’s all true. – 39 years ago, the village of Aldbourne was transformed into ‘Devils End’ and became the setting for a classic instalment of cult BBC TV show Doctor Who, staring Jon Pertwee as the Time Lord in the five-part story, “The Daemons”.
The Doctor travels to Devil’s End to investigate the ancient secret of the Devil’s Hump, (the first barrow in the four barrow group), a mysterious burial mound. The Doctor’s nemesis, The Master, is also there, masquerading as the local Vicar.
Using the powers of black magic, he hopes to invoke the powers of the satyr-like alien Azal the Daemon and take over the world.

Various references on this story are quoted on Wikipedia such as;
Jon Pertwee stated numerous times over the years that this was his favourite Doctor Who serial.
The incantation that the Master uses in summoning Azal is actually the nursery rhyme “Mary Had a Little Lamb” said backwards.
The Doctor uses the words of a Venusian lullaby to ward off Bok, Azal’s helper, singing the words to a tune which is actually the Christmas carol “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen”.
The clip of the Brigadier’s helicopter blowing up as it crashes into the heat shield is borrowed from the James Bond movie From Russia with Love.

Read more about all this on the links listed below

doctorwholocations.net/locations/fourbarrows?from=aldbourne

news.bbc.co.uk/local/wiltshire/hi/tv_and_radio/newsid_8342000/8342659.stm

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Daemons

As a footnote, The TV production team did actually dig a small way into the barrow without permission or any supervision.
Roy Canon, the Wiltshire county archaeologist was furious and almost sued the BBC for damage to a scheduled monument. Since then the rules regarding filming at such sites have been strictly followed and no such know incident has occurred again.

This miniature version of a Class II henge was first discovered in 1937 through pieces of Peterborough ware.
A couple of local boy scouts, investigating rabbit scrapes in Fargo plantation, had brought the sherds to the attention of J.F.S. Stone, who had been working in the area for a number of years. Although no surface features where visible, it was decided to excavate the site, which was found to be about a metre below the present surface.

A small sub-oval enclosure, approx. 30 ft. in diameter and markedly asymmetrical in outline, was uncovered, with causeways in the north and south. The northern one being much wider than the southern one. No surviving traces of a bank were found, although Stone interpreted the ditch sections as indicating an outside bank.

Within the central area of the henge, a pit had been dug and lined with turfs. This contained part of a burial (the spine and ribcage of a young male, minus the head, arms, pelvis and legs), together with a beaker and base of a food vessel. Two cremations where also placed next to this burial. A third cremation was uncovered in the north-east corner and to the east of the central grave, another pit had been dug which contained a cist and a further cremation, both considered to be secondary to the original burial.
The ditch silting contained an unaccompanied cremation in the upper part, a shard of Late Neolithic Mortlake ware, and a piece of Stonehenge rhyolite (Bluestone). Antler fragments were also recovered from the primary ditch silts, together with flint flakes and four flint scrapers.

The stated dimensions of the henge were:
Internal diameter ranged from c.3.96-6.10m, with the ditch width 1.52-1.68 m.
Orientation is NNE, SSW

See the enclosed plan/section for a clearer picture of this site

Alésia – Where and What – en.wikipedia.org

Where is Alésia?

France, Bourgogne, départ. Côte-d’Or (21), Alise-Sainte-Reine

The uncertainty surrounding Alesia’s location is humorously parodied in the Asterix volume Asterix and the Chieftain’s Shield, in which, in this case because of Gaulish pride, characters repeatedly deny that they know its location (“I don’t know where Alesia is! No one knows where Alesia is!“).

There have been archeological excavations since the time of Napoléon III in Alise-Sainte-Reine in Côte d’Or near Dijon, which have claimed that the historical Alesia is located there.
New discoveries are constantly being made about this Gallo-Roman settlement on the plateau of Mont-Auxois.
As a result of the excavations, a find was presented to the museum there with the inscription: IN ALISIIA, which finally dispelled all doubts.

What was Alésia?

Alesia was the capital of the Mandubii, one of the Gaulish tribes allied with the mighty Aedui, and after Julius Caesar’s conquest it became a Roman town (Oppidum) in Gaul.

In September, 52 BC it became the legendary site of The Battle of Alesia or Siege of Alesia

This was fought by the army of the Roman Republic commanded by Julius Caesar, aided by cavalry commanders Mark Antony, Titus Labienus and Gaius Trebonius, against a confederation of Gallic tribes united under the leadership of Vercingetorix of the Averni, and was the last major engagement between Gauls and Romans, marking the turning point of the Gallic Wars in favour of Rome.

The siege of Alesia is considered one of Caesar’s greatest military achievements, and is still one of the classic examples of siege warfare and circumvallation.

As many as a million people (probably 1 in 4 of the Gauls) died, another million were enslaved, 300 tribes were subjugated and 800 cities were destroyed during the Gallic Wars.
The entire population of the city of Avaricum (Bourges) (40,000 in all) were slaughtered.
During Julius Caesar’s campaign against the Helvetii (present-day Switzerland) approximately 60% of the tribe was destroyed, and another 20% was taken into slavery.

Bibracte was the capital of the Aedui tribe and one of the most important hillforts in ancient Gaul.

Bibracte was built on Mont Beuvray which straddles the borders of the French départements of Nièvre (58) and Saône-et-Loire (71) and lies 25 kilometres from the city of Autun in Burgundy.

A few decades after the Roman conquest of Gaul, Bibracte was abandoned in favour of Autun and without a continuous settlement to disturb the site, Bibracte remained for modern archaeology to rediscover.

The first excavations were begun by the wine merchant Gabriel Bulliot between 1867 and 1895. His nephew Joseph Déchelette, author of the famous Manuel d’Archéologie, continued the excavations between 1897 and 1907.

The site is an archaeological park at the centre of a protected forest, and a site of cooperative European archaeological efforts, a training ground for young archaeologists as well as a centre for interpreting Gaulish culture for a popular audience.

Important international excavations have taken place at Mont Beuvray, with teams from the universities of Sheffield, Kiel, Budapest, Vienna and Leipzig.

The Aedui were one of the most powerful tribes in Gaul and before Caesar’s time, had attached themselves to the Romans, and were honoured with the title of brothers and kinsmen of the Roman people.

In 63 BC, when the Sequani, their neighbours on the other side of the river Arar, with whom they were continually quarrelling, invaded their territory and subjugated them with the assistance of a Germanic chieftain named Ariovistus, the Aedui sent Diviciacus, the druid, to Rome to appeal to the senate for help.

Although Diviciacus’ mission to Rome was unsuccessful, his diplomatic and political skills, along with his friendship with Julius Caesar, marked the beginnings of Rome’s military invasion and ultimate conquest of Gaul.

In 58 BC, when the Helvetii began their ill fated march out of their tribal homelands and through the territory of the Aedui, they were defeated 16 miles south of the fort by the armies of Julius Caesar. For helping Rome, Caesar restored the independence of the Aedui.

In spite of this, the Aedui joined the Gallic coalition against Caesar and in 52 BC, Vercingetorix was proclaimed its leader at Bibracte.

After the surrender of Vercingetorix at the battle of Alesia, the Aedui reverted back to their allegiance with Rome.
Diviciacus welcomed the victorious Julius Caesar back to Bibracte and witnessed Caesar complete dictating his masterpiece, The Gallic Wars.

After the death of Julius Caesar, the Emperor Augustus dismantled Bibracte and built a new town 25 kilometres to the east with a half-Roman, half-Gaulish name of Augustodunum, which we know today as the modern city of Autun.

For those who cannot find this site or cannot walk all the way up here, another although not so grand, polissoir surface can be seen on stone number 19B of the West Kennett Avenue.
As this stone is complete and in the upright position, its use as an axe grinder would have long ceased before it was incorporated into the Avenue

The burial By M. E. Cunnington – 1930

One burial was found. This consisted of a much crouched skeleton of a youth some 14 or 15 years of age, lying in a shallow grave on the inner side of the stone hole 12, in the Stone-and-post-ring, i.e., on the eastern side of the rings immediately behind the one single-post hole in the Bank Holiday ring (Plate X.).

The skeleton lay on its right side, head to the south, feet to the north i.e., facing east. The grave was l ft. deep, 3ft. long, by 2ft. wide. The
grave and the stone hole cut into one another, and the body must have almost, if not quite, touched the inner face of the stone at the time of
burial, if the stone was already standing. See PL III., 1.

The arms were crossed above the elbow in front of the face, the two hands seeming to enfold the face, finger bones being found over and under the facial bones ; the head was bent forward over the chest, and the legs were crossed below the knees.
In front of the legs just below the knees lay the crushed fragments of a beaker. Intimately associated with the skeleton, apparently having been laid on the body when it was buried, were some bones of animals, some being slightly charred. A few small flecks of charred (or decayed?) wood were noticed among the bones of the skeleton.

The bones of the skeleton were nearly all broken, most of the limb bones being in several pieces. The skull and the beaker were crushed flat and a few fragments of both were missing ; it seems that this was probably due to a certain amount of disturbance caused when the stone fell, or was thrown down and removed.
Some of the crushing may be due to heavy modern agricultural machines.

It is hardly possible that the burial was made before the stone hole was dug ; the probability seems to be that it was made at the time the stone was erected, for the risk of bringing down the stone would have been considerable had the grave been dug Later. As all the ground within and including the Fence-ring was dug over, had there been other burials they must have been found, so this with Woodhenge makes the second elaborate series of wooden circles that were not erected primarily as burial places.

This solitary somewhat insignifcant burial may have been of a dedicatory nature as the only one of the rings at Woodhenge is thought to have been.
The evidence from the burial affords a striking parallel to that of the pottery as regards an overlap in cultures. While some of the pottery is of the West Kennet Long Barrow type the rest is equally characteristic of the succeeding “Beaker” period. The youth buried beside the stone was of
Long Barrow people ancestry, but the vessel by his side is one typical of the “Beaker” people, who invaded Britian at the end of the Long Barrow period, imposing their culture—and presumably conquering—the Long Barrow people who were previously predominant in southern Britain.
Better evidence of overlap could scarcely be expected.

The only other human remains found were three pieces of a lower jaw scattered in stone hole 16 of the Stone-and-post-ring ; the pieces were sub-
sequently fitted together but do not make a complete jaw.

The Bougon museum, opened in 1993, is a modern structure, incorporating an ancient priory. The exhibition is focused on prehistory in general and the Neolithic in particular. It includes the excavated material from the site, but also replicas of a room in the Neolithic settlement of Catalhoyuk (Turkey) and of the passage tomb art from Gavrinis (Brittany).

The museum also has an outside area with displays of experimental archaeology, including reconstructions concerned with prehistoric methods for the transport and construction of megalithic monuments.

The Tumulus of Bougon or Necropolis of Bougon (French: “Tumulus de Bougon”, “Nécropole de Bougon”) is a group of five Neolithic monuments (barrows or burial mounds) located near La-Mothe-Saint-Héray, between Exoudon and Pamproux in Poitou-Charentes, France.

Their discovery in 1840 raised great scientific interest. To protect the monuments, the site was acquired by the department of Deux-Sèvres in 1873. Excavations resumed in 1968. The oldest structures of this prehistoric monument date to 4,800 BC.

Wiltshire Downs

The cuckoo’s double note
Loosened like bubbles from a drowning throat
Floats through the air
In mockery of pipit, lark and stare.
The stable boys thud by
Their horses slinging divots at the sky
And with bright hooves
Printing the sodden turf with lucky grooves.
As still as a windhover
A shepherd in his napping coat leans over
His tall sheep-crook
And shearlings, tegs and yoes cons like a book.
And one tree-crowned long barrow
Stretched like a sow that has brought forth her farrow
Hides a king’s bones
Lying like broken sticks among the stones.

Wiltshire Downs – Andrew Young (1885-1971)

Morgan’s Hill

After the rain
a long view – and larks.
A climb through three gates,
but worth it for the best of Wiltshire.
We, surprised even now by this green antiquity
touching instinct, breathe in and smile.
And the sun points out meadows,
clouds paint themselves
and high Morgan’s Hill sings its great wide song
to us until
we turn to the circle of trees,
and the hollow hauls us into itself.
A stump, scattered stones,
a fire’s corpse and a stagnant pool;
a rook floats, sodden, swollen.
Here we are no longer part of things -
or part of something other.
We leave symptoms of ourselves everywhere.
Out there the winds dilute us.
Here, face to face with these echoes,
we fall silent.
Saddened, with nothing
but the rushing of beech about us,
we stumble out,
finding a sky we do not recognize
full of something darker than the rain.

Sean Street, 1989

A Village Republic

Sarsen is a village that has no great landlord. There are fifty small proprietors, and not a single resident magistrate. Besides the small farmers, there are scores of cottage owners, every one of whom is perfectly independent.
Nobody cares for anybody. It is a republic without even the semblance of a Government. It is liberty, equality, and swearing. As it is just within the limit of a borough, almost all the cottagers have votes, and are not to be trifled
with. The proximity of horse-racing establishments adds to the general atmosphere of dissipation. Betting, card-playing, ferret-breeding and dogfancying, poaching and politics, are the occupations of the populace.
A little illicit badger-baiting is varied by a little vicar-baiting.

Richard Jefferies, 1879

Time on Time

Here in Yarnbury Camp, said the man, his shadow falling across us sunned and silent, they dug up a Roman soldier.
complete with all his gear they found him, even to the rivets, brass-bronze, I should say – that fastened his leather sandals.
I’m interested in these things myself, whenever I come here I make a special point of looking in all the rabbit-holes.
He paused a little, and went; and after him came the Roman. shadowless stepping the turf that hid him unsunned and silent,
here in Yarnbury Camp, saying, we dug up a Briton, buried with all his goods, his worked flints and his amber.
Mortality is a strange thing, I muse and ponder about it as I stand here on my watch, so still that at dusk the coneys nibble the grass at my feet, heeding me no more than a dead man.
I looked at your wrist, at the transient flesh and the bone beneath it, and time bound dancing there with a viper’s-tongue flicker.
To that coranto, I thought, north-east of us the shadows of Stonehenge veer onward into another evening.

Sylvia Townsend Warner, 1937

Sarsen, a type of sandstone laid down in warm shallow seas, varies consideiahly in its composition and hardness, The slabs into which it naturally fractures often have one rough side and one that is much smoother.

Holes made by the roots of aquatic plants and burrowing marine creatures create weaknesses that weather can modify and enlarge, the stones sometimes taking on fantastic shapes and contours. The base of Stone 60 had eroded into what was effectively a tiny cave, big enough for four people at a squeeze.

In 1959 Stone 60 was straightened and, at the same time, in order to deal with what was seen as a weakness in its structure, the ‘cave’ in its base was filled in.