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Hertfordshire HER
.
| HHER Number: | 503 |
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| Type of record: | Monument |
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| Name: | PROBABLE MOTTE, BARROW HILL, BARROW FARM, WIDFORD |
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Summary
The larger of the 'Widford tumuli', probably the motte of a motte and bailey castle
Monument Types
- MOUND (Unknown date)
- MOTTE? (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1500 AD)
Protected Status
- Scheduled Ancient Monument 20649: BARROW HILL: A MOTTE CASTLE 250M SOUTH OF BARROW FARM
- SHINE: Cropmarks and earthworks of a possible Barrow Cemetery, Barrow Hill, Widford
- Area of Archaeological Significance
- Sensitivity Map: SM, barrow hill mound and cropmarks
Full description
Large mound; diameter approx. 43m, height approx. 6.6m; there is also evidence for a possible ditch <1>. The larger of a pair of mounds known as the Widford tumuli; they were considered to be Roman barrows by <2> and <3>; Salmon suggested they might be Danish. In 1949 a retired Inspector of Ancient Monuments, W J Hemp, suggested that they are not burial mounds at all. 'He is convinced that the larger "tumulus" is, in fact, the mound of a motte and bailey castle, and the smaller, an angle of the bailey' <6>. OS agreed that the larger is likely to be a motte <1>; it is apparently undisturbed and has a flat top, 14.3m by 5.5m <5>. Its companion [4235] has been levelled.
Sources and further reading
| --- | Unpublished document: Brown, Amanda (HCC). 1984. Hertfordshire barrow survey record. Site visit & photo, 29.3.1984 |
| --- | Unpublished document: Cave-Penny, Helena (HCC) site report. 16.1.1986 |
| <1> | Index: OS Records. |
| <2> | Article in serial: G C Dunning & R F Jessup. 1936. Roman barrows; Antiquity 10,. - p52 |
| <3> | Bibliographic reference: Cussans, John Edwin. 1870-73. History of Hertfordshire vol 1. p55 |
| <4> | Article in serial: Squires, E E. 1903. Tumuli at Barrow Farm, Widford; Trans East Herts Archaeol Soc 2/2, 130-4. |
| <5> | Scheduling record: Scheduled Monument description. |
| <6> | Article in serial: Moodey, G E. 1949. Widford: tumuli; East Herts Archaeol Soc Newsletter 1, p4. |
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