More information : (SU 14614174) Tumulus (AT). (1) Amesbury 25. A bowl barrow 96ft in diameter and 4ft high. It is bisected by a driveway. When opened in 1770-71 it produced a small bronze dagger. (2) Only two chords of the barrow, one either side of the drive, remain; they have a maximum height of 0.7m. Published survey (1:2500) revised. (3)
This barrow is one of two barrows situated within the interior of Vespansian's Camp (SU 14 SW 69) and was opened in 1770, probably during the course of landscaping within the hillfort's interior (4). The barrow now survives on either side of the central north-south ride. The dagger recovered from this barrow has been described by Goddard, he also originally recorded the barrow as Amesbury 25. (5)
The barrow falls within the area mapped from aerial photographs by both RCHME's Salisbury Plain Training Area NMP and EH's Stonehenge WHS Mapping Project. It has been included on the survey maps, but is covered by trees, and no further information could be added from aerial photographic evidence. (7)
The idea that the barrow was excavated in 1770 arose from a misunderstanding. It was almost certainly excavated in the 1740s when a carriage way was driven through it; the finds from this and another barrow within the hillfort were first exhibited in public in 1771. The barrow remains as described by Authority 3. (8)
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