| Summary : A Bronze Age round barrow, known as Amesbury 48, survives as earthworks and forms part of the Cursus barrow cemetery (Monument Number 219681). The round barrow has an overall diameter of 38m and comprises a roughly circular mound, only 0.3m high, surrounded by a concentric ring ditch, with a very slight outer bank. A slight causeway crosses the ditch to the north of the mound. Excavations by Colt Hoare in the early 19th century (Barrow 33) recovered a primary cremation with beads of stone, amber and faience, some of which are in Devizes Museum. In 1913 Maud Cunnington noted the barrow was in good condition having never been ploughed but the barrow was subsequently ploughed for much of the 20th century. The barrow was listed as Amesbury 48 by Goddard (as a disc-shaped barrow) and by Grinsell (as a bowl barrow with outer bank). The barrow was surveyed at 1:1000 by English Heritage in April 2009 as part of the Stonehenge WHS Landscape Project. The surviving earthworks suggest the central mound was relatively broad with no berm between the barrow mound and the surrounding ring ditch: perhaps a saucer barrow. |
More information : `F'- SU 11704279; Amesbury 48, a bowl barrow with a ditch and outer bank; overall diameter 136ft. (1) Excavations by Colt Hoare (Barrow 33) located a primary cremation with stone, amber and fiaence beads, a number of which are in Devizes Museum. (DM 399-405). (2-3)
A ditched bowl barrow 32m in diameter, 0.9m high and with a 0.4m deep ditch to the north. The barrow has been under plough, although now fenced in, and the outer bank and the ditch to the south have been effaced. (4)
Originally recorded as Amesbury 48 by Goddard. With a note by Maud Cunnington: condition good, 1913, never ploughed. (5)
The barrow is visible as an earthwork on aerial photographs, and has been mapped by both RCHME's Salisbury Plain Training Area NMP and EH's Stonehenge WHS Mapping Project. (7-9)
The Bronze Age round barrow referred to above (1-9) was surveyed at 1:1000 scale by English Heritage in April 2009 as part of the Stonehenge WHS Landscape Project. The round barrow has an overall diameter of 38m and comprises a roughly circular mound, only 0.3m high, surrounded by a concentric ring ditch, with a very slight outer bank. A slight causeway crosses the ditch to the north of the mound. The top of the mound measures circa 15m and the base is 22m in diameter. The ditch measures circa 9m wide and just 0.1m deep and a slight outer bank, 3m wide and 0.2m deep, flanks all but the north-western side. It is visible as a white chalk ring on aerial photographs (see sources 7-9) which show the site under arable cultivation. The surviving earthworks suggest the central mound was relatively broad with no berm between the barrow mound and the surrounding ring ditch: perhaps a saucer barrow. (10-11) |