The Wansdyke & District Forums

new to all this so bear with me. theres a lump in the top field, always been there, my father called it the tump and ploughed round it. council man came about the footpath and said i shouldnt touch it, its scheduled or some such. nobody ever told me. what is it then, and whats it worth knowing, because i cant farm round it forever. put a couple of photos up, excuse the sheep.

Welcome aboard. Before anyone gets excited: half of what gets called a barrow on here turns out to be a clay heap or a wartime spoil bank. Can you give me a grid reference, even a rough one off the OS app? And is it round in plan, or longer one way than the other? Round and bowl-shaped with a ditch round it points one way; long and rectangular points to something a good deal older. The sheep are no help, I grant you.

Trevor's right to be cautious, but Bill, if the county officer has flagged it as scheduled then it is almost certainly already on the record, which means someone identified it at some point. That is good news, not bad: there are stewardship payments for exactly this, ground you have to leave uncultivated. I volunteer at the museum and can look up the monument record if you give me the parish. From the photos, the profile and that hint of a surrounding ditch, I would put a small wager on a bowl barrow, Bronze Age. The tump name is a good sign too; it is the old word for it and it clings to the genuine ones.

Bill if its a barrow do NOT let anyone near it with a detector, scheduled is scheduled, you need consent and all sorts. Not that id ever ask of course ;) Lovely bit of ground though. Had a Bronze Age ring out Pewsey way two summers back, recorded proper with the FLO, it is in the museum now.

parish is Cherhill. thanks Col if youd look it up. and no Pete youre not coming near it with a machine, ive seen the holes you leave.