Summary

Roman barrow 225m north-east of Throgmorton Hall.

Source: Historic England

Details

This record was the subject of a minor enhancement on 25 June 2015. This record has been generated from an "old county number" (OCN) scheduling record. These are monuments that were not reviewed under the Monuments Protection Programme and are some of our oldest designation records. As such they do not yet have the full descriptions of their modernised counterparts available. Please contact us if you would like further information.

This monument includes a Roman barrow situated on the summit of a hill overlooking the valley of the River Bourne and 60m south west of the Roman road called the ‘Portway’. Known locally as either ‘Ende Burgh’ or ‘Hand Barrows’ the Roman barrow survives as an oval platform measuring 45m long by 22m wide and up to 1m high topped with two steeply sided circular mounds, the northern one is 20m in diameter and 1m high with a central depression and the southern is 15m in diameter and 1.6m high with a hollow on its western side. In the 19th century Anglo-Saxon intrusive burials were discovered and a partial exploration was carried out by Sqd Ldr Dickinson and Lt Scullard Wady in 1941. Colt Hoare originally defined the earthwork as being a long barrow, but it has been variously interpreted as two round barrows, built on top of an earlier bell barrow or as a Roman barrow.

Source: Historic England

Reasons for Scheduling

Earthen barrows are the most visually spectacular survivals of a wide variety of funerary monuments in Britain dating to the Roman period. Constructed as steep-sided conical mounds, usually of considerable size and occasionally with an encircling bank or ditch, they covered one or more burials, generally believed to be those of high-ranking individuals. The burials were mainly cremations, although inhumations have been recorded, and were often deposited with accompanying grave goods in chambers or cists constructed of wood, tile or stone sealed beneath the barrow mound. Occasionally the mound appears to have been built directly over a funeral pyre. The barrows usually occur singly, although they can be grouped into "cemeteries" of up to ten examples. They are sited in a variety of locations but often occur near Roman roads. A small number of barrows were of particularly elaborate construction, with masonry revetment walls or radial internal walls. Roman barrows are rare nationally, with less than 150 recorded examples, and are generally restricted to lowland England with the majority in East Anglia. The earliest examples date to the first decades of the Roman occupation and occur mainly within this East Anglian concentration. It has been suggested that they are the graves of native British aristocrats who chose to perpetuate aspects of Iron Age burial practice. The majority of the barrows were constructed in the early second century AD but by the end of that century the fashion for barrow building appears to have ended. Occasionally the barrows were reused when secondary Anglo-Saxon burials were dug into the mound. Many barrows were subjected to cursory investigation by antiquarians in the 19th century and, as little investigation to modern standards has taken place, they remain generally poorly understood. They are rare monuments which exhibit a wide diversity of burial traditions and are considered important. Despite partial excavation the Roman barrow 225m north-east of Throgmorton Hall survives comparatively well and will contain archaeological and environmental evidence relating to its construction, development, relationship with surrounding archaeology, function, funerary and ritual practices, date, adaptive re-use, territorial significance and overall landscape context.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Other
PastScape 218407
Wiltshire HER SU13SE604

Source: Historic England