Chance

Field Notes

Everleigh Barrow Group – SU 184561 – Sep 2007

Ordnance Survey Explorer Map 130 – Scale 1:25000
Salisbury & Stonehenge inc. Wilton & Market Lavington.
ISBN 978-0-319-23599-7

Visited this barrow group after seeing the Giants Grave Long Barrow, on Milton Hill.
I travelled up the B Road from Pewsey to Everleigh. Pewsey hill is very step and Pewsey’s White Horse looks down upon the valley from up here. It has numerous drovers’ tracks running up it from ancient times and the whole area is criss-crossed with byways and bridleways. All the traffic stopped using these routes when the military moved onto the Plain a hundred or so years ago. The tank training station at Tidworth lies just a few miles to the south and the area is accessible but very churned up.
This barrow group is on the edge of this training range, hence the Star of David signs to show it is an ancient monument and not to be dug into or driven over in a tank. The military have made great strides to prevent more damage to some of the ancient sites on the Plain, but some were already destroyed before they found their wisdom.

Once you have reached the top of Pewsey, travel along the flat plateau until you reach the track marked for Milton Hill Farm on the right and Down Farm on the left (SU 185570). If you intend to visit the Giants Grave Long Barrow, you would turn right for Milton Hill. I would suggest you find somewhere to park around the back of the farm and walk down the track to the barrow group.

The Everleigh barrows group are classified as the five barrow cluster at SU 184561.
I have included a map based on the SMR numbering for clarity.
Prefix the numbers with SU15NE i.e. SU15NE655, for search at https://history.wiltshire.gov.uk/smr/

Bowl Barrow (654) – Excavated by Hoare c1800 and again opened by Thurnam who found it to be unproductive. 13.5m diam x 0.3m high.

Bowl Barrow (655) – Flattened

Disc Barrow (656) – Excavated by Thurnam in the 19th century, who found it unproductive.
Mound Overall diam 59m, mound 0.3m high, ditch 0.7m deep, bank 0.5m high.

Bell Barrow (657) – Opened by Thurnam who found a primary cremation which was probably male and an intrusive extended, undated skeleton. Mound 81ft x 11ft, berm 18ft, ditch 15ft x 2.5ft. It is well-preserved and grass covered.
Dr. Thurnam writes, “The most eastern of the bell-shaped barrows is upwards of thirteen feet in elevation; and in this, in a slight cist scooped out of the chalk, was a large deposit of burnt bones, probably those of a man, unaccompanied by urn, weapons, or ornaments; and proving, as Sir Richard Hoare often found, that ” we must not judge of the contents by the form of a barrow. Fronti nulla fides.” The upper part had been used in later times for a secondary interment; the skeleton of a tall man being met with, about a foot from the summit, laid at full length and with the head to the south. The arms were close to the sides of the skeleton; the thigh bones measured nineteen and a half inches. The skull has an ovoid form, the crowns of the teeth are flatly eroded; and, notwithstanding the discovery of a few fragments of coarse Roman pottery close by, the interment may be attributed to the Anglo-Saxon period.”

Bell Barrow (658) – Opened by Thurnam who found a primary cremation with a flat axe-dagger. Mound Overall dima 50m x 3.2m high, with a 0.5m deep ditch.
Of this barrow Dr. Thurnam writes, “The more western barrow is not quite so high as the eastern. At the depth of about eleven and a half feet, was a heap of burnt bones, apparently those of a man; and with these a small bronze blade three inches in length, retaining one of the rivets by which it had been attached to its handle, and altogether similar to that figured at page 329 (W.A.M. Vol 6). Adjoining the burnt bones, was a pile of grey ashes mixed with wood charcoal.”

A short distance north-east of the barrows is a square earthwork enclosure of possibly iron age date. 800 metres north-cast of the barrows (SU 187567) is the Down Farm group of eight barrows, including a badly damaged bell-barrow. Although these barrows were dug by Colt Hoare around 1800, there is some doubt as to which barrows contained what objects. Most seem to have contained cremation burials, one with a bronze awl, shale beads and perhaps an incense cup.

A copy of John Thurnam’s 1860 notes, page 332, from the Wiltshire Archaeological Magazine Vol 6 is available to download in pdf format here

https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=DK0UAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=editions:0CXB15IR7SUUL_bI&lr=&as_brr=1

Chance

Field Notes

Giants Grave Long Barrow – SU 18925819 – Sep 2007

Ordnance Survey Explorer Map 130 – Scale 1:25000
Salisbury & Stonehenge inc. Wilton & Market Lavington.
ISBN 978-0-319-23599-7

Visited this long barrow before seeing the Everley barrow group.
I travelled up the B Road from Pewsey to Everleigh. Pewsey hill is very step and Pewsey’s White Horse looks down upon the valley from up here. It has numerous drovers’ tracks running up it from ancient times and the whole area is criss-crossed with byways and bridleways. All the traffic stopped using these routes when the military moved onto the Plain a hundred or so years ago. The tank training station at Tidworth lies just a few miles to the south and the area is accessible but very churned up.

Once you have reached the top of Pewsey, travel along the flat plateau until you reach the track marked for Milton Hill Farm. (SU 185570) Turn left and travel down past the farm until you reach the tree lined hedge (SU 195580). There is a well used bridleway leading across the field and out to the top of Milton Hill Clump. The path round the back leads to the Long Barrow. An extensive ancient field system can be seen stretching across the hills, indicating it’s rich agricultural history. The area must have provided for a lot of people back in the Bronze age.

Giant’s Grave Long Barrow sits on the crest of Milton Hill overlooking the Pewsey Valley. Built of chalk, it measures 90 m long, 20 m wide and 2 m high.

It is very similar to Adam’s Grave Long Barrow, on the other side of the valley.

If you have time, check out the Everleigh Barrow Group at SU 184561.

Chance

Field Notes

Yarnbury Castle – SU 035404 – Aug 2007

Ordnance Survey Explorer Map 130 – Scale 1:25000
Salisbury & Stonehenge inc. Wilton & Market Lavington.
ISBN 978-0-319-23599-7

I visited this site last Lammas as part of my tour of the Stonehenge area. It was the last site on my hit list and I’d planned to spend the afternoon there. My transport was, as usual, my bike. It meant cycling down a dual carriageway to get there, but it was the most practical route for me to take. Having read the other field notes, or lack of them, it looks like I was the only one to make it.

The site lies just off the A303. At this point, the road is a dual carriageway with a central reservation. I would suggest you try to get to SU 04104 40144. This point is a farm track, just off the South bound A303. You should be able to turn a sharp right off the A303 to get there, but I haven’t tried this. If you miss the turn, and there’s no signpost, you will have to travel down to Deptford or Wylye to turn round. There is a farm track running alongside the North bound side of the A303, but I couldn’t tell you how to get on this, let alone get off it.

If your travelling on the North bound side of the A303, you could try a sharp left turn on the other side of the farm track, just past the site, otherwise you should travel up to the B3083 and turn off towards Berwick St. James. Turn round here and travel back along the A303 South bound.
The other alternative is to travel on to Berwick St. James, and travel or walk along the Langford Waie. This track leads to the summit of a hill with a water tower on top. Turn right here and travel up until you reach the A303. There is a milestone at this point indicating that it was once the roman road from Old Sarum to Bath. The milestone is actually listed as scheduled monument AM419 (SMR No. SU04SW525). Once you get to this point, the last obstacle is the A303 itself. You must wait for a gap in the traffic and sprint across to the central reservation. Do this again over the Northbound lane and the delights of Yarnbury Castle can be sampled. Bit of a game all that, but that’s it’s not up a mountain.

I have no idea if this is private land or on MOD land or anything. I did get buzzed by a MOD helicopter while there, but thought nothing of it as they were flying around all the time. I cycled down the track till it drew parallel with the fort and stashed the bike well off the track. There was a section of wire fence down and a path though it, so I took that.

I walked up the side of the earthworks until I got to the original, eastern entrance. This is a strong interned entrance, 9 metres wide, with elaborate outworks including a kidney-shaped enclosure, which forces the entrance passage south and east.
Once inside the circular earthwork, the ground is level and encloses over 10 hectares. The fort is surrounded by two banks 7.5 metres high and deep ditches, with traces of a third, slighter outer defence. An OS trig station sits on one bank, indicating that you stand on the highest point for miles.

Inside the fort are traces of an earlier 3.6 hectare enclosure. When this was excavated by Maud Cunnington in June 1932, pottery fragments and human burials were recovered. This area has been dated to 300BC. A geophysical survey was carried out in 1987, and another year earlier, by the RCHME. This revealed the remains of at least 120 circular structures and associated pits within the hillfort defences.

While the outer ditch has been dated to 100BC, a small triangular enclosure of Roman date was added to the outside of the fort on the west. This has been shown by excavation to have a V-shaped ditch 2.7 metres deep, together with an entrance that had been closed by a wooden gate.

The entrance on the south side is modern and probably dates from the eighteenth century. As Rhiannon says, an annual sheep fair was held inside the fort. This ended in 1916, maybe due to the military demands on the area, or maybe through the gradual demise of the old ways. This pattern was repeated throughout countless communities up and down the country, let alone the county. The sheep-pens have left rectangular ridge-traces on the eastern side of the central enclosure.

I really enjoyed visiting Yarnbury. It had a true atmosphere of the past, even though the busy A303 gave out a constant hum of traffic. The parking is the major problem, but once you overcome that, you get a place the size of Avebury to yourself. The banks and ditches reminded me of Avebury too, they were probably bigger. It felt a little like Old Sarum too.

My exit strategy was simple. Leave by the way I came in and retrieve the bike. I then cycled out, over Madington Down to Shrewton.

Field Notes
Mount Scylla Settlement Earthwork, Ford – June 8th 2008

Ordnance Survey Explorer Map 157 – Scale 1:25000
Chippenham & Bradford-on-Avon inc. Trowbridge & Melksham.
ISBN 978-0-319-23943-8

Saw this site listed on TMA and checked it out.
Not the easiest too easy to view. No public footpath and parking problematic.
The nearest lay-by is at ST 83032 74297 on the B road between Ford and Colerne.
It’s not marked on the OS map, but lies over the road from the footpath style.
You either walk down the road until you get to the gate at ST 83165 74455, on the right hand side,
or you make your way through the field along the hedgerow.
WARNING – the road is very narrow, steep and has a blind bend at this gateway. In fact the road runs very straight until it gets to the edge of the earthwork. Maybe it was driven through it on purpose, to make the earthwork less defensive. The hillfort in the next valley, Bury Wood Camp may have been sacked by the Second (Augusta) legion of the Roman army, on their advance to Gloucester.

I cycled down the road until I out to the gate and left the bike by the hedge.
Walking into the field, I was struck by the natural beauty of the area. The site sites halfway up the side of a hill overlooking the Bybrook valley.

The earthwork consists of two straight sections joining at a slight angle. The northern section runs North West to south east for 115m and consists of a rampart but no ditch. This section forms a field boundary and is surmounted by the remains of a much later dry stone wall creating a field boundary.

Getting level with the rampart at it’s lowest point, I was surprised to find a stile built for crossing over the wall and into the field containing the rampart. The stone wall had been built over the left hand side of the rampart. I guess it must have been still stable after 2 thousand years, to do this.

The section to the south runs from NNE to SSW for 140m ending at a point at which the slope to the south becomes very steep. It comprises a bank up to 0.3m high from the west and 2.8m high from the east. The bank is 8.4m wide and is flanked to the east by a ditch 7m wide and up to 0.5m deep.

The right hand side of the rampart is much easier to see and follow, as it stands 2.8m high at the southern end and has been a sprinkling of young Oak trees.
There seemed to be some kind of hollow or dried up pond in its middle, where the two sections met. A number of large stones sat around its edge and it gave the impression of a ruined stone circle. The stone boundary wall also curved around this point, so it may have been built as a pond. The hollow had hazel growing around its edges.

Together with the steep slope to the south and north, the earthwork defines an area of about 3ha, although the full extent of the monument to the west is not known.

The area as a whole has lots of Mesolithic and Neolithic flint tool finds, an Iron-Age hillfort, Romano-British buildings, and the undated burial mounds in Colerne Park, excavated in 1953.