| Summary : Bronze Age disc barrow containing a cremation, pottery and animal bone, (Grinsell's Chiseldon 1). In 1979 excavations on the barrow bank and ditch, recorded Neolithic ploughsoil, a Bronze Age midden with Burderop Down settlement, and a possible Medieval pillow mound. Roman pottery has been found. |
More information : (SU 16737642) Tumulus (NR). (1)
Chiseldon No 1. Disc barrow, mound diam 32', height 1 1/2', berm
width, W 49', E 82'; ditch width 17', depth 1'; outer bank width 17',
height 1'. The tump is W of centre being oval although probably
originally circular (2). Excavated by Passmore c 1926 who gave it a
total diam of 245' N-S, the ditch being 4' deep wide and the top
being 12' wide. The mound is given as 100' N-S, 30' E-W and 1' to
1'6" high. The mound had been mutilated by a previous excavator
who had deposited the smashed remains of an urn and cremation in
his excavation trench. Within the area of the barrow were found two
cylindrical holes cut into the natural chalk packed with ashes,
one containing the bones of a large bird. IA occupation was found immediately above the chalk silting of the ditch on the S side with a scattering of sherds and animal bones. On the W side of the mound a shallow pit containing animal bones of uncertain date was found. (2-3)
LBA pottery (around tumulus and to E). (4)
A fairly well preserved disc barrow, now covered in rank grass,
occupying an E facing arable hill-slope. Dimensions are generally as
given by Grinsell and Passmore. The off-centre mound is considerably
mutilated; it now measures 24.0m N-S by 10.0m E-W and up to 0.7m
high. The outer bank fades into the hill slope on the higher W side;
it attains a maximum height of 1.0m on the lower E side.
Resurveyed at 1:2500. (5)
In 1979 a section of the barrow bank and ditch was excavated as part of the Marlborough Downs Project. The excavations were carried out to investigate barrow construction and the Old Ground Surface beneath the bank. The bank was probably retained by facing walls of turf and preserved a Neolithic ploughsoil. The ploughsoil contained a quantity of pottery and flint implements which are thought to be the result of heavy manuring with domestic midden material from a settlement situated within the vicinity.
The barrow ditch had a flat bottomed profile, which was re-cut later in the Bronze Age. The lower fills of the recut contained midden material derived from the nearby settlement (SU 17 NE 31). The upper fills contain Romano-British pottery derived from the cultivation of the barrow interior either on a sporadic or short-lived basis. A long mound present west of the centre of the barrow is unlikely to be an original barrow feature. It is thought this could be a Medieval pillow mound. (6)
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