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MONUMENT NO. 188542

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A Bronze Age barrow cemetery was first identified by H. St G. Gray in 1931 and is also recorded on aerial photographs as earthworks and cropmarks. Part of the site has been scheduled. Three round barrows and a possible chambered long barrow partly destroyed by ploughing were identified in 1931. A further two have been identified as cropmarks on aerial photographs bringing the total to five. The barrows have a staggered roughly north-south linear alignment. The largest, and most northern, of the barrows was excavated in 1931 when a secondary urned cremation, Beaker and Neolithic pottery, a flint knife and flake were found. A group of stones to the south of this barrow was suggested to be the remains of a chambered cairn. The northermost barrow, which has a diameter of 45m,survives as a low mound surrounded by a partially visible ditch. South of this is a ring ditch visible as a cropmark with a diameter of 20m. Further south east, another barrow survives as a low mound, with a diameter of 20m, which is surrounded by a ditch. The ditch is only visible as a cropmark. South again is a ring ditch with an off-centre pit, possibly the site of the burial pit. This possible barrow appears to be sub-circular and has a diameter of 22.5m. South of this is the fifth barrow in the group. It survives as a low mound, bisected by a modern boundary. It measures 40m across. Part of the northern side of its surrounding ditch is visible as a cropmark on aerial photographs. The two southernmost barrows appear to have been incorporated into a later settlement (ST 04 SE 121). A number of bronze implements were found in this area in the latter half of the 19th century :- A knife dagger from Lakes Meadow; implements preserved at Orchard Wyndham were almost certainly from the area, consisting of a winged axe, a broken dagger, a rapier and a spearhead. A socketed axe is recorded as found near one of the mounds by W. Towell when draining.

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[ST 07454162] STONES [T.I.]
[ST 07414167] TUMULUS [G.T.]. (1)

A group of three round barrows and a probable chambered long
barrow, now destroyed were examined in 1931 by H. St. G. Gray.
(See plan).

Barrow I [A. ST 07404166] was excavated and a secondary
cremation found in a broken urn with wooden lid, accompanied by
a flint knife and flake. Two beaker sherds and one of
Peterborough ware came from this site. Previous mutilation had
apparently destroyed the primary burial.

The barrow was surrounded by a ditch now filled, but the
surrounding earthworks were modern drainage. A nearby stone [ST
07454168] appeared to be in its natural bed.

A group of stones to the S. of this barrow [D. ST 07454162] was
suggestive of a burial chamber. Flint implements including a
triangular arrowhead were found here. An earlier M.S. report
suggests that inhumation burials in stone cists or chamber, had
been found in the round barrows. (a)

A piece of Samian was found on the edge of the barrow. All
finds from 1931 excavations in Taunton Museum.

A number of bronze implements were found in this area in the
latter half of the 19th cent:- A knife dagger from Lakes
Meadow, in Taunton Museum; a group of four implements preserved
at Orchard Wyndham, almost certainly from the area, consisting
of a winged axe, a broken dagger, a rapier and a spearhead. A
socketed axe in Taunton Museum recorded as found near one of
the mounds by W. Towell when draining. (2-3)

Three round barrows without visible ditches:-
A: ST 07404166, partly destroyed by ploughing and drainage
ditches;
B: ST 07474154 very low and spread by ploughing;
C: ST 07484139, crossed by an E-W hedge and destroyed N. of the
hedge.
D: Group of stones may well have formed part of the chambering
of a long barrow.

Surveyed at 1/2500. (4)

Additional Bibliography. (5-13)

The bronze dagger and 2 Littleport type dirks as well as Treboul-type spearhead and end-wing-flanged axe are listed. The end-wing axe may not be associated with this site as it has a Late Bronze Age provenace while the other 4 bronze objects are Early/Middle Bronze Age. (14)

Additional reference (15)

The three barrows described above form part of a Bronze Age barrow cemetery visible on aerial photographs. A further two ring ditches appear to represent the remains of a further two barrows. The barrows are visible on aerial photographs as follows:

The northermost barrow, which has a diameter of 45m,survives as a low mound surrounded by a partially visible ditch. It is centred at ST 0740 4166. This barrow is surrounded by a system of modern drainage and boundaries, some of which cut across the mound and ditch. To the south of this, at ST 0742 4160 is a ring ditch visible as a cropmark with a diameter of 20m. To the south east of this, at ST 0747 4154, another barrow survives as a low mound, with a diameter of 20m, which is surrounded by a ditch. The ditch is only visible as a cropmark. South of this is, at ST 0747 4147, another ring ditch with an off-centre pit, possibly the site of the burial pit. This possible barrow appears to be sub-circular and has a diameter of 22.5m. South of this is the fifth barrow in the group at ST 0748 4139. It survives as a low mound, bisected by a modern boundary. It measures 40m across. Part of the northern side of its surrounding ditch is visible as a cropmark on aerial photographs.
(16-17)

A large round barrow and three stone slabs lie to the south of a stream at Poultry Bridge, Williton, at ST 0740 4166. The site is part of a larger group of monuments which includes two further round barrows and two ring ditches, the latter now visible on air photographs. The complex is known as Battlegore because of its historical associations with Viking or Danish raids on the west Somerset coast. The site lies at the foot of the northwest edge of the Quantock Hills, west of the Doniford Stream, in basin with hills or high ground to the north, southwest, west and east, at an altitude of 30m OD. The barrow and stones were recorded at 1:500 and 1:50 scales, using EDM and graphical methods, during the EH archaeological survey of the Quantock Hills AONB.

The barrow comprises a rather ovoid mound with a flat top which measures 33m east-west by 26m north-west. There is a berm towards the bottom of the mound and very slight traces of a ditch on the south and east sides. The west side of the mound has been cut through by a later field boundary. The top of the mound has a narrow rectangular trench, 10m by 2.5m and 0.3m deep, cut into it. This is probably the remains of the excavation undertaken by H St George Gray in 1931. A curving bank, 5m wide and 0.8m high to the north of the barrow is the remains of a field boundary marked on the tithe map of 1841. Several shallow channels which run across the field are the remains of field drains. A very slight mound 6.5m in diameter and 0.25m high lies 20m to the east of the barrow. Gray noted five of these mounds in this area and excavated one of them, making no conclusions except to compare them those seen around apple trees in an orchard. He found three flint flakes and some slag but the context of these finds is not clear. They could well be small `satellite' cairns such as those found close to some of the large barrows on the Quantock Hills.

Three stones lie to the southeast of the barrow by the field boundary which here takes the form of a thick hedge, planted on a bank with a ditch on its north side. Two of the stones lie in a hollow, the remains of Gray's 1931 excavation trench, the third lies against the hedge bank. The largest is 3.1m long, 1.2m wide and 0.7m thick. The stone which lies on the hedge is 1.6m long, 0.75m wide and 0.5m thick. The smallest stone is somewhat obscured by vegetation; it measures 1m by 0.5m and is approximately 0.3m thick. Two slight mounds immediately to the west and east of the stones are most likely to be the result of Gray's excavation (18).

The stones may well represent the collapsed remains of a portal dolmen tomb, as suggested by Gray in 1931 (2). The location of the site, locally in a small basin, and, more widely, in the valley between the Quantock Hills and Exmoor is significant in this context.

SOURCE TEXT

( 1) Ordnance Survey Map (Scale / Date)

OS 6" (Prov.) 1962

( 2a) Oral information, correspondence (not archived) or staff comments

( 2) Somerset archaeology and natural history : the proceedings of the Somersetshire Archaeological and Natural History Society

(plans, figs) H. St. G. Gray 77, 1931 Page(s)9-36

( 3) Somerset archaeology and natural history : the proceedings of the Somersetshire Archaeological and Natural History Society

(XCVI) (Museum Accessions) 79, 1933

( 4) Field Investigators Comments

F1 JP 07-MAY-65

( 5) General reference

Land of Quantocks 1905 (W Greswell) Page(s)78

( 6) by Leslie Grinsell 1976 Prehistoric sites in the Quantock country

(L V Grinsell) Page(s)9, 11, 23

( 7) General reference

Archaeology of Somerset, The County Archaeology Series 1931 (D P Dobson) 1 Page(s)41, 257

( 8) Somerset archaeology and natural history : the proceedings of the Somersetshire Archaeological and Natural History Society

lvii 64, 1918

( 9) Somerset archaeology and natural history : the proceedings of the Somersetshire Archaeological and Natural History Society

54 Page(s)72-3, 107

(10) edited by William Page 1911 The Victoria history Somerset, volume two

The Victoria history of the counties of England Page(s)529

(11) Journal of the British Archaeological Association

38, 1932 Page(s)347

(12) General reference

Megalithic England, 1969 (T G Powell) Page(s)292

(13) General reference

Battle Gore, 1931 (H St G Gray)

(14) General reference

Dirks and Rapier of Great Britain and Ireland. Prohistorische Bronzefunde Abteilung 4, Band 7

(15) Scheduled Monument Notification

14-MAR-2000

(16) Oblique aerial photograph reference number

NMR ST 0741/2-4 (15322/08-10) 30-JUN-1995

(17) Oblique aerial photograph reference number

NMR ST 0741/5-7 (15309/52-54) 30-JUN-1995

(18) Field Investigators Comments

Riley, H 2004 EH Field Investigation

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