White Barrow

Last updated

White Barrow
Whitebarrow.jpg
Wiltshire UK relief location map.jpg
Archaeological site icon (red).svg
Shown within Wiltshire
Location Salisbury Plain, England
Coordinates 51°13′15″N1°57′15″W / 51.2208°N 1.95427°W / 51.2208; -1.95427
TypeLong barrow
Length77.5 metres (254 ft)
Width47 metres (154 ft)
History
PeriodsNeolithic
Site notes
OwnershipNational Trust
Identifiers
NHLE 1018159
White Barrow Whitebarrow.jpg
White Barrow

White Barrow is a large Neolithic long barrow just below the crest of Copehill Down on Salisbury Plain, just south of the village of Tilshead in Wiltshire, England. It is a scheduled monument, and is owned by the National Trust. It was the first ancient monument to be purchased by the National Trust.

Contents

History

White Barrow is 77.5 m long and approximately 47 m wide (including the surrounding ditch). It has never been fully excavated, but dating of materials found in and around it suggests that it dates from 3500 to 4000 BC, making it contemporary with other long barrows on Salisbury Plain, as well as the nearby causewayed enclosure called Robin Hood's Ball. The antiquarian Colt Hoare opened the mound in the 1806, [1] and found areas of black earth that he believed to be the remains of a wooden-structured burial chamber. [2]

A geophysical survey by English Heritage in 1997 found evidence of a possible burial chamber or mortuary cairn inside the barrow, and an arc of post pits at its eastern end. A former trackway crossing the site from southwest to northeast was also found. [1]

The barrow was designated as a scheduled monument in 1960. [3]

National Trust purchase

White Barrow was the first piece of land that the National Trust acquired purely in the interests of archaeological conservation. Prior to that, the Trust had mainly been concerned with open spaces, houses and gardens. The barrow, along with 2.75 acres (11,100 m2) of land, was purchased by subscription in 1909 for £60, at a time when the War Office was rapidly buying up land around it as part of Salisbury Plain Training Area. [4]

Badger exclusion

In 1998 a family of seven badgers was evicted from a sett they had dug into the barrow. A badger exclusion licence was obtained from English Nature, and English Heritage gave scheduled monument consent. The badgers were lured to a new sett outside of the property, and the barrow was covered in chain link fencing to prevent animals from burrowing into it again. Finds in the badger spoil from the old sett included struck flints, Neolithic and Bronze Age pottery, and part of a red deer antler. [5]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stonehenge</span> Ancient monument in England

Stonehenge is a prehistoric monument on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, England, two miles (3 km) west of Amesbury. It consists of an outer ring of vertical sarsen standing stones, each around 13 feet (4.0 m) high, seven feet (2.1 m) wide, and weighing around 25 tons, topped by connecting horizontal lintel stones. Inside is a ring of smaller bluestones. Inside these are free-standing trilithons, two bulkier vertical sarsens joined by one lintel. The whole monument, now ruinous, is aligned towards the sunrise on the summer solstice. The stones are set within earthworks in the middle of the densest complex of Neolithic and Bronze Age monuments in England, including several hundred tumuli.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Uffington Castle</span>

Uffington Castle is an early Iron Age univallate hillfort in Oxfordshire, England. It covers about 32,000 square metres and is surrounded by two earth banks separated by a ditch with an entrance in the western end. A second entrance in the eastern end was apparently blocked up a few centuries after it was built. The original defensive ditch was V-shaped with a small box rampart in front and a larger one behind it. Timber posts stood on the ramparts. Later the ditch was deepened and the extra material dumped on top of the ramparts to increase their size. A parapet wall of sarsen stones lined the top of the innermost rampart. It is very close to the Uffington White Horse on White Horse Hill.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">West Kennet Long Barrow</span> Neolithic tomb or barrow in Wiltshire, England

The West Kennet Long Barrow, also known as South Long Barrow, is a chambered long barrow near the village of Avebury in the south-western English county of Wiltshire. Probably constructed in the thirty-seventh century BC, during Britain's Early Neolithic period, today it survives in a partially reconstructed state.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Long barrow</span> Type of dolmen

Long barrows are a style of monument constructed across Western Europe in the fifth and fourth millennia BCE, during the Early Neolithic period. Typically constructed from earth and either timber or stone, those using the latter material represent the oldest widespread tradition of stone construction in the world. Around 40,000 long barrows survive today.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Winterbourne Gunner</span> Human settlement in England

Winterbourne Gunner is a village in Wiltshire, England, about 4 miles (6 km) northeast of Salisbury. The village is near the River Bourne and the A338 road and is close to Winterbourne Dauntsey. It is part of the civil parish of Winterbourne, formed in 1934 by amalgamating the three ancient parishes of Winterbourne Earls, Dauntsey and Gunner.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stonehenge Landscape</span> Estate owned by the National Trust of England

The Stonehenge Landscape is a property of The National Trust, located on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, England. The estate covers 2,100 acres (850 ha) surrounding the neolithic monument of Stonehenge, which is administered by English Heritage. Much of the land is designated open access by the Trust, including the fields immediately around Stonehenge and other fields that become available as part of the chalk grassland reversion project. Stonehenge itself is in the care of English Heritage, having been given to the nation in 1918 by Cecil and Mary Chubb, who had bought it three years previously from the Antrobus family.

Robin Hood’s Ball is a Neolithic causewayed enclosure on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, England, approximately 5 miles (8 km) northwest of the town of Amesbury, and 2+12 miles (4.0 km) northwest of Stonehenge. The site was designated as a scheduled monument in 1965.

Stonehenge, Avebury and Associated Sites is a UNESCO World Heritage Site (WHS) in Wiltshire, England. The WHS covers two large areas of land separated by about 15 miles (24 km), rather than a specific monument or building. The sites were inscribed as co-listings in 1986. Some large and well known monuments within the WHS are listed below, but the area also has an exceptionally high density of small-scale archaeological sites, particularly from the prehistoric period. More than 700 individual archaeological features have been identified. There are 160 separate Scheduled Monuments, covering 415 items or features.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Upton Lovell</span> Human settlement in England

Upton Lovell is a village and civil parish in Wiltshire, England. It lies on the A36, in the Wylye valley about 5 miles (8.0 km) southeast of Warminster. The parish is on the left (northeast) bank of the river, and stretches for over two miles northeast onto Salisbury Plain.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stoney Littleton Long Barrow</span> Neolithic chambered tomb in England

The Stoney Littleton Long Barrow is a Neolithic chambered tomb with multiple burial chambers, located near the village of Wellow in the English county of Somerset. It is an example of the Cotswold-Severn Group and was scheduled as an ancient monument in 1882. It was one of the initial monuments included when the Ancient Monuments Protection Act 1882 became law.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vespasian's Camp</span> Iron Age hillfort in Wiltshire, England

Vespasian's Camp is an Iron Age hillfort just west of the town of Amesbury, Wiltshire, England. The hillfort is less than 3 kilometres (2 mi) from the Neolithic and Bronze Age site of Stonehenge, and was built on a hill next to the Stonehenge Avenue; it has the River Avon on its southern side and the A303 road on its northern edge. The site is a scheduled monument and lies within the boundaries of the Stonehenge World Heritage Site.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Winterbourne Stoke</span> Human settlement in England

Winterbourne Stoke is a village and civil parish in Wiltshire, England, about 5 miles (8 km) west of Amesbury and 3 miles (4.8 km) west of the prehistoric monument of Stonehenge.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stonehenge Avenue</span>

Stonehenge Avenue is an ancient avenue on Salisbury plain, Wiltshire, England. It is part of the Stonehenge, Avebury and Associated Sites UNESCO World Heritage Site. Discovered in the 18th century, it measures nearly 3 kilometers, connecting Stonehenge with the River Avon. It was built during the Stonehenge 3 period of 2600 to 1700 BCE.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Normanton Down Barrows</span> Barrows in England

Normanton Down is a Neolithic and Bronze Age barrow cemetery located about 0.6 miles (1 km) south of Stonehenge in Wiltshire, England. The burials date from between 2600 and 1600 BC and consist of a Neolithic long barrow and some 40 or more Bronze Age round barrows, sited along the crest of a low ridge.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marden Henge</span> Neolithic henge monument

Marden Henge is the largest Neolithic henge enclosure discovered to date in the United Kingdom. The monument is northeast of the village of Marden, Wiltshire, within the Vale of Pewsey and between the World Heritage Sites of Avebury and Stonehenge.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scratchbury Camp</span> Iron Age hillfort in Wiltshire, England

Scratchbury Camp is the site of an Iron Age univallate hillfort on Scratchbury Hill, overlooking the Wylye valley about 1 km northeast of the village of Norton Bavant in Wiltshire, England. The fort covers an area of 37 acres (15 ha) and occupies the summit of the hill on the edge of Salisbury Plain, with its four-sided shape largely following the natural contours of the hill.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nympsfield Long Barrow</span> Barrow remains in England

51.71025°N 2.29970°W

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Adam's Grave</span> Neolithic long barrow in England

Adam's Grave was a Neolithic long barrow near Alton Barnes in Wiltshire, southwest England. Its remains have been scheduled as an ancient monument.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Grey Mare and her Colts</span> Long Barrow in Dorset, England

The Grey Mare and her Colts is a megalithic chambered long barrow located near Abbotsbury in Dorset, England. It was built during the Early and Middle Neolithic periods. The tomb was partially excavated in the early nineteenth century, and was found to contain human bones and several pottery fragments.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Barrow Clump</span> Archaeological site in Wiltshire

Barrow Clump is an archaeological site in Figheldean parish, Wiltshire, England, about 3+12 miles (5.6 km) north of the town of Amesbury. The site is a scheduled monument.

References

  1. 1 2 Payne, A W (May 1997). "Report on Geophysical Surveys 70/2000". Historic England. Retrieved 8 June 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  2. "Barrows Of Wiltshire". Wiltshire Web. 20 August 2014. Retrieved 8 June 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  3. Historic England. "White Barrow (1018159)". National Heritage List for England . Retrieved 8 June 2020.
  4. David Morgan Evans; Peter Salway; David Thackray (1996). The Remains of Distant Times: Archaeology and the National Trust. Boydell & Brewer. p. 23. ISBN   978-0-85115-671-2.
  5. "National Trust Annual Archaeological Review 1998/1999"

Coordinates: 51°13′15″N1°57′15″W / 51.2208°N 1.9543°W / 51.2208; -1.9543