| Summary : A Bronze Age bell barrow, listed by Grinsell as Wilsford 58, and part of the barrow group recorded as SU 13 NW 1. Excavated in the early 19th century by Colt Hoare, who found a primary inhumation with stone battle axe, a bronze flanged axe, a partly-worked and polished long bone, a grooved whetstone or "arrow straightener", a boar's tusk, a bone plate with two perforations (possibly a haft), and a perforated antler handle. Also present was an item described as a bronze double-handle with hanging chain. Grinsell suggests that it came from a bronze cauldron. If correct, this would make it several centuries later in date than the inhumation, causing Grinsell to suggest that the object may have been interred with a secondary burial which was not found. However, Colt Hoare seems to suggest that it had been with the other items at the feet of the inhumation and Grinsell's identification has since been questioned. All the objects listed above are in Devizes Museum. Colt Hoare also found a bronze pin or rivet, and "several other articles of bone", while Grinsell refers to potsherds of 'Late Bronze Age' date having been found on the barrow. The barrow is extant as an earthwork mound 3.3 metres high, with overspread berm and ditch up to 0.4m deep, overall diameter 46 metres. |