More information : The flint mining complex and associated monuments at Blackpatch were surveyed by RCHME as part of a project to record industry and enclosure in the Neolithic. Investigation of the Blackpatch site has included field survey, AP transcription and documentary research. While examining the published and unpublished documentary material relating to John Pull's work at Blackpatch, it became evident that his round barrow no. 10, located a few hundred yards NE of the Neolithic flint mines, was probably of Saxon rather than prehistoric date. It differs considerably from the other barrows in a number of respects, most notably the fact that the mound was composed of soil and clay-with-flints rather than mining spoil, and that the extended inhumation appears to be primary rather than secondary (two of the prehistoric barrows associated with the mining complex have extended inhumations in clearly secondary contexts - see TQ 00 NE 43). The mound prior to excavation was 32ft in diameter and 3ft high, covering a roughly central pit 7ft long and 2.25ft deep. it contained an adult male skeleton, extended on its back with head to west and feet to east. The left arm lay by its side, while the right was folded across the body towards the left thigh. The left femur had been completely severed half way along its length, though the skeleton was complete. No definite dating evidence was present, but the nature of the interment and the presence of a mound suggests an early Medieval date.
The mines and the immediate vicinity were bulldozed in the early 1950s prior to a brief episode of ploughing. Nothing resembling a barrow is visible at the approximate location of Pull's barrow 10. On the basis of Pull's sketch plan it should be somewhere in the area of TQ 097092, and may be the feature recorded by the OS at TQ 0963 0919 (see TQ 00 NE 43) - Pull's plan is too imprecise to be certain, and there are two prehistoric barrows in the same area. For full details and discussion see the archive report. (1, 2) |