| Summary : A Bronze Age bell barrow, part of a group of four barrows (see also SU 17 SW 195-7). Listed by Grinsell as Avebury 39, this was the only one of the four not to have been dug into by Merewether in 1849. However, Ordnance Survey field investigation in 1975 noted a shallow depression in the mound summit. The barrow survives as a mound 54 metres in diameter and 2.6 metres high, surrounded by a berm 4.5 metres wide. the ditch, circa 8 metres wide, is now 0.2 metres deep. |
More information : (Centred SU 11347100) Tumuli (NR). (1)
'A' (SU 11257097) Bell(?) barrow, mound diam 48', height 5'; Merewether in 1849 (barrow 3). Primary (?) cremation and remains of small bronze dagger which had been burnt. B & T arrowhead found. (Grinsell qualifies his classification by saying that apparent bell form may be due to removal of material from circumference by ploughing. Merewether says that it was a bowl barrow).
'B' SU 11297100 Bell(?) barrow, mound diam 63', height 7'; berm width 9'; ditch destroyed. Excavated by Merewether (barrow 4). Primary (?) cremation in MBA collared urn. Rim of another collared urn found 2 1/2' from top of mound. (Grinsell has same qualifications to classification as in Avebury 37).
'C' SU 11357099 Bell barrow, mound diam 84' height 6 1/2' berm width 14'; ditch destroyed.; certainly a bell barrow with berm wide and well preserved.
'D' SU 11417099, Bowl barrow, diam 15 paces; height 5'. Excavated by Merewether (barrow 5). Primary (?) cremation in a large cist on the natural surface of the ground, covered with black substance like pounded charcoal. (2-3)
A. SU 11257097; A bowl barrow 15m overall diameter and 1.3m high. Ditch ploughed out. Some mutilation on the SE gives the slight
suggestion of a bell barrow.
B. SU 11297100; A bell barrow 40m overall diameter, has a mound 2.7m high above a wide, 0.2m ditch which is ploughed out in the N.
C. SU 11347099. A bell barrow, overall diameter 54m. Mound 2.6m high; berm 4.5m wide. The ditch, average 8.0m wide is now 0.2m deep. There is a shallow depression in the mound summit.
D. SU 11417098. A ditchless bowl barrow, 15m overall diameter and 1.1m high. Published 25" surveys revised. (4)
All four barrow mounds were mapped at 1:10,000 from APs by the Fyfield Down and Overton Down Mapping Project. No additional information was recorded. (5)
NB this record now deals solely with Barrow 'C' above, Grinsell's Avebury 39. The others have now been recorded separately as follows: 'A' - SU 17 SW 195; 'B' - SU 17 SW 196; 'D' - SU 17 SW 197.
There is no report of Merewether having excavated the barrow, which seems a little curious given its size and proximity to other barrows dug into by him. However, in this area, he refers to "a range of five large barrows" but only describes the results of digging four. A fifth is described merely as having "previously been opened". Here he may well be referring to Avebury 39. Thus the shallow depression in th summit of the mound referred to by the Ordnance Survey may well relate to a pre-1849 antiquarian excavation. Grinsell's report of the ditch being "destroyed" by ploughing by 1950 is curious given its clear presence 25 years later. (1-5)
Additional detail for one of the barrows (SU 1134 7098), including a central hollow, is visible on lidar and was mapped as part of the Avebury WHS Lidar and NMP Review.
(7) |