Neolithic or Bronze Age Round Barrow

1 A ring ditch shows on air photographs.
2 Complete excavation by W Ford in 1969 exposed an unbroken enclosing ditch with a diameter of 22m between the internal banks. The profile of the ditch was V-shaped, but with a flat bottom. No pottery from primary or secondary fill, but Romano British pot from tertiary fill. There appears to have been a central grave, of which only the base remained. All the contents had been lost but phosphate analysis showed high phosphate content. There appears to have been an internal gravel mound as Medieval ploughing had incised the subsoil outside but not within the ring ditch. The evidence suggests a Bronze Age barrow. One single Romano British pit was found to the W of the ring ditch, other features were related to tree clearance.
4 A flint flake from the excavation (PRN 5174) is possibly of Palaeolithic date.
5 Dating revised to the Neolithic.
6 Site I produced no dating evidence and appeared to be of even ditch construction. There is nothing to support a suggestion of Neolithic date beyond common spatial patterning: both ring ditches were aligned on the western side of the oblong ditch and were set exactly the same distance from it. Contempoary deliberation and planning seem likely.
7 Plan of ring ditch from 1969.