| Summary : A Neolithic long barrow orientated northeast-southwest on a low ridge in open downland, which now forms part of the Larkhill Artillery Range impact zone. Field investigations by RCHME field staff as part of the Salisbury Plain Training Area project in 1995 found the mound almost 2 metres high at the east end, measuring 53 metres long, tapering from 27 metres wide at the broad east end, down to 15 metres. The flanking ditches were slightly curved, 45 metres long, 10 metres wide and 1.25 metres deep with a weathered edge to the south ditch. Slight traces of `celtic' fields surround the barrow and it has been severely damaged by military activity. Consequently, the mound, and side ditches, had been extensively damaged by shell-fire. A terrace had been cut along the top of the barrow's north side, it was also surmounted by an Ordnance Survey triangulation pillar, now blasted down to ground level, gunnery-beacons, and a flagstaff. J.Thurnam excavated the barrow before 1869 locating a secondary Saxon inhumation. A Bronze Age spearhead also has been found. |
More information : (SU 07305137) Ell Barrow (NAT) Long Barrow (NR). (1)
Ell Barrow, orientated east to west, length 170 feet. Cunnington
records a trampled but still distinct ditch.
Thurnam excavated the barrow pre 1869 finding a secondary Saxon burial at 1 ft - 2 ft depth. The skull had a long cleft,
apparently from a sword blow. (2-4)
Burial listed by Meaney. (5)
Middle Bronze Age spearhead from Ell Barrow.
Circumstances of finding unknown but probably a surface or
sub-surface find.
In Newbury Museum. (6)
SU 07305137 'Ell Barrow' (name unverified) a severely mutilated
earthen long barrow; clearly defined on OS APs (7). The mound
orientated northeast/southwest is 51.5 metres long, 1.4 metres high at the west end rising to 1.8 metres high at the east end; it has a maximum central width of about 36 metres, and is up to 1.8 metres high on the south side and 2.4 metres on the south side, above the ditch bottoms. Existing lateral ditches average 45 metres long, 9 metres wide and 1.2 metres deep, but with reference to Cunnington's remark (3) the ditches have almost certainly been subsequently deepened for military purposes. 'Ell Barrow' is conspicuously sited on a low ridge in open downland, which now forms part of the Larkhill Artillery Range impact zone. Consequently, the mound, and side ditches, have been extensively damaged by shell-fire.
A terrace has been cut along the top of the barrow's north side,
it is also surmounted by an OS, triangulation pillar (now
blasted down to ground level); gunnery-beacons, and a flagstaff.
Resurveyed at 1:2500 on MSD. (8)
Originally recorded as Wilsford 3 by Goddard. (9)
This trapezoidal mound was surveyed at 1:500 by RCHME field staff as part of the SPTA Project (SPTA no. 820, 822, 834), see project archive for further details. It stands almost 2 metres high at the east end and measures 53 metres long, tapering from 27 metres wide at the broad east end, down to 15 metres. The flanking ditches are slightly curved, 45 metres long, 10 metres wide and 1.25 metres deep with a weathered edge to the south ditch. There are slight traces of `celtic' fields surrounding the barrow and it has been severely damaged by military activity. (10) |