More information : `E' - SU 11244273; Amesbury 53, a bowl barrow 60ft in diameter and 4ft high. (1) Excavated by Colt Hoare (Barrow 38) without result. (2)
Amesbury 53, a bowl barrow 0.4m high with a ditch 0.2m deep. Published 1:2500 survey revised. (3)
Originally recorded as Amesbury 53 by Goddard and described by Maud Cunnington as overgrown with bushes and nettles and much defaced by rabbits in 1913. (4)
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. (6)
The round barrow referred to above (1-6) survives as earthworks within Fargo Plantation. It is located at roughly SU 1120 4275 and measures an overall 26.6m in diameter. The round barrow comprises a circular mound surrounded by a ring ditch. A break in slope almost half way up the mound implies two phases of construction. A slight berm separates the mound from the ring ditch and possible causeways are evident in the south-western quadrant of the ditch.
The summit of the mound measures 8m in diameter, the base of the upper mound 13.8m, the top of the lower mound is 16.4m and the base of the lower mound is 20m in diameter. A slight berm 1.7m wide separates the mound and the ring ditch, which measures 2.45m wide and 0.3m deep. The lower mound is 0.7m high and the upper mound is 0.8m high, giving a total height for the mound of 1.5m. The northern side of the mound is less sharply defined and covered by denser vegetation.
The earthworks suggest its original form was more complex than a simple bowl barrow. Ploughing in the early 19th century and subsequent vegetation as part of the plantation have probably caused damage to the monument. The earthworks were observed by English Heritage in November 2010 during a rapid field investigation (Level 1 survey) of Fargo South as part of the Stonehenge WHS Landscape Project. (7-8)
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