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Summary

Part of a Scheduled Monument, a small rather flattened barrow containing a secondary inhumation of two bodies

Associated Legal Designations or Protected Status

• Scheduled Monument 1009458: TWO PLATFORM BARROWS AND A BOWL BARROW 440M SOUTH OF GREENWAY COTTAGES

Other Statuses and Cross-References

• Berkshire SMR No. (pre 2000): 01312.03.000
  

Monument Type(s):

• BOWL BARROW (Late Bronze Age - 1000 BC to 701 BC)
• INHUMATION (Early Medieval/Dark Age - 410 AD? to 1065 AD?)

Full Description

PART OF SM 19029. "SCRAPED TOGETHER" TYPE? 2 EMPTY PITS FOUND BENEATH BARROW AND SECONDARY DOUBLE INHUMATION ACROSS DITCH. OS FIELD VISIT 1964- LOW MOUND WITH NO TRACE OF DITCH.
This northernmost barrow was Barrow III in the 1933 excavations, and the following description is taken from the report by Peake and Padel <1>. It is described as quite different from the other two further south: quite low, not more than 6 inches above the original ground surface and 'indeterminate in outline'. It was not marked on the first OS maps, but was first noted by Miss Blanche Wroughton of Woolley Park in about 1900. Its excavation by means of two cross trenches led to it being described as a 'scraped-together barrow'; a shallow ditch was sectioned on the east, but on the west was V-shaped and running obliquely. Two large pits, one circular and one oval, were excavated without any finds being made, and there was a low mound of chalk rubble in the barrow. Fragments of Early to Middle Bronze pottery were found at various depths, but so too were Iron Age and Romano-British sherds, as well as animal bones.

The most surprising discovery, however, was a grave found dug across the ditch on the northeast of the barrow. The grave was 5 feet long, with a sarsen stone at either end. A tall man (probably 5'9" in height) of about 45-55 had been placed in the grave on his left side, but his head had been removed, and was found touching the arms of a young girl buried above him. She was about 12 years old, and was also lying on her left side. Some bones were missing from the male skeleton, so it was not possible to determine how his head had been removed. There were no grave goods or associated finds to date these skeletons, but the excavators and bone specialist suggested that the grave was a Saxon one. Three reasons were given for this: comparisons with other Anglo-Saxon skeleton measurements; the location of the grave on the edge of a barrow; and the sarsen stones at head and feet, also seen at other Anglo-Saxon cemeteries.

Sources and further reading

Related Monuments

Associated Excavations and Fieldwork

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