An Investigation into the Archaeological History of Tidgrove Warren Farm

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Barrows

During many periods in the past, earthen mounds were erected to cover one or more burials; these are generally known as barrows. In the Neolithic period, long barrows were erected over wooden or stone burial chambers, while very many round barrows of various sorts were built in the succeeding Bronze Age. Although most of the barrows that are still visible in vast numbers, particularly on uplands, date to this time, there are also barrows dating from other periods. Among them are Iron-Age barrows, including some square ones in Yorkshire; barrows from the Roman period, particularly in south-east England, where they often covered rich burials; and those from the Anglo-Saxon period, which include the spectacular royal cemetery at Sutton Hoo in Suffolk.

The Tidgrove Investigation

The investigation of the Barrow took place over four weekend in August 2005 to people who worked during the week to take part in a profesionally supervised dig.

The geophysical survey carried out in 2004 clearly showed the Barrow situated on an area of downland. The excavation trench was placed as shown so that it crossed the ditch surrounding the mound. This enabled the archaeologists to date the site using organic matter from beneath the mound soil.

During the first weekend the area to be excavated was marked out and the levels taken to enable the position of any finds to be accurately recorded. The volunteers then went to work excavating out the top soil with mattocks and hoes taking care to note any change in texture and stopping at that point. The edges of the trench were then squared off using spades and then further excavation was continued by hand using small trowels.

At the end of the week-end the volunteers had uncovered the position of the ditch surrounding the Barrow and also the starting point of the actual mound.

This was a mistake, however, as on the second weekend we found that what we thought was the start of the barrow mound was in fact the ditch surrounding the barrow, and the ditch was an unidentified feature. The advantage of the miscalculation as to the positioning of the trench was that we were excavating an area further outside the ditch than was usual and found stone age flint tools and iron age pottery fragments. The miscalculation came about because our measurements were taken from the present day hedge line not realising that this had moved forward three metres over the years

The penultimate weekend was spent on further excavation of the ditch plus extending the additional ditch to try and find the edge of the mound. The main purpose of this years excavation was to try and date the time the barrow was built by analysing the organic material found under the disturbed layers.

On the final weekend the ditch continued to be excavated which ended with the discovery of a sheeps skull at the botom of the ditch which was about 2 metres deep.

It was anticipated that the mound would be investigated in subsequent years but we were informed that the area had been contaminated by previous farming activity and would produce no useful or reliable data.