| Summary : A Bronze Age barrow cemetery of 42 barrows, surviving as earthworks and cropmarks, located within the area of Postdown Farm and Sevenbarrows Farm. A range of barrow types are represented and include bowl, double bowl, bell, disc and saucer barrows. The core of the cemetery comprises ten barrows, surviving as earthworks, arranged in two parallel northwest-southeast rows, with the remaining barrows dispersed over a wide area from the core. Thirty six of the barrows were identified and numbered by Case in 1951, twenty three of these were identified as earthworks and surveyed by the Ordnance Survey in 1964. Four additional barrows were identified during fieldwork during the 1970s and later. The Lambourn Downs National Mapping Project, carried out by the RCHME in 1999, identified sixteen of the barrows as earthworks and eight as cropmarks. Excavations of some of the barrows during the late 19th century recorded primary Bronze Age cremations and inhumations, often accompanied by grave goods. Also present were intrusive Roman and Early Medieval inhumations. [For details of each individual barrow see child records]. |
More information : [Group centred SU 328 828] Seven Barrows [G.T.]
Tumulus [G.T.] six times
Tumulus [G.T.] (sites of) (1)
Lambourn Seven Barrows is a typical barrow cemetery of the
Wessex Bronze Age and must be contemporary with Stonehenge in all its phases, spanning the period 1750-1350 B.C., its later
burials belonging to the period 1000-800 B.C Case lists thirty-six barrows [see plan AO/LP/63/105 for numbering and siting], some of them sites only, while numbers 20 [NMR HOB UID; 1455790], 24 [NMR HOB UID; 1455937], 26 [NMR HOB UID; 1455938], 27 [NMR HOB UID; 1455939] and 33 [NMR HOB UID; 1456028] are regarded as doubtful. The remainder of the group contains examples of bowl, double bowl, bell, disc and saucer barrows. [In addition to the numbered barrows, Case's plan shows an un-numbered disc barrow, the northernmost of the group] (2-3)
Some of the barrows were excavated from 1850-1858 by
E. Martin Atkins and finds ranged from Early-Late Bronze Age, an
outstanding example being barrow number 1[NMR HOB UID; 1455608] which contained 112 secondary Late Bronze Age cremations, 58 in urns, 54 without urns, but all enclosed with sarsen stones (2) (3) A child inhumation in the top soil is "perhaps Roman," (3) and many Anglo-Saxon secondaries are said to have been found, but in which barrow or barrows is not stated, (5). Most of the finds from the excavations are in the British Museum (6).
Scheduled (7). (2-7)
Barrows numbered 1 to 19 and 34-36, by Case, and the
`Sparsholt' disc have been identified on the ground and
surveyed at 1:2500. [See child records for individual barrow details]. The land owners say that only barrow numbers 4-13, which are fenced off and known as "Seven Barrows," and number 1 are formally scheduled (See G.Ps AO/63/95/3 and 4). (8)
Additional bibliography. (9-13)
SU 324831, SU 326830, SU 328829, SU 327826, SU 329826, SU 327825,SU 328838. Scheduled No 60. "Seven barrows" and adjacent tumuli to the north and south. (14)
Most of the Bronze Age barrow cemetery, described by the previous authorities, has been mapped from aerial photographs. Barrows 1 and 4-18 are visible as earthworks and are located as listed by authority 8. Barrows 3, 28-29, 32-6 and the Sparsholt disc barrow are visible as cropmarks and are located as listed by authority 4. Apart from those described above none of the other possible roundbarrows described by the previous authorities could be located on the available aerial photographs. [see child records for details of each individual barrow]. (15-22)
Excavations have located primary Bronze Age cremations and inhumations, and intrusive Roman and Early Medieval inhumations. (23)
A Saxon buckle, possibly found with a secondary inhumation, was recovered from one of the barrows during the excavations carried out in 1879. The buckle dates to circa 700AD. (24). |