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England
Randwick Long BarrowLong Barrow
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Met up with friend MM today (something an expert on the Cotswolds) pointed car towards Stroud and the village of Whiteshill; parked up at Shortwood car park just off the Harefield Road. Having read a bit about the Randwick long barrow hidden in Randwick/Standish Wood we abandoned our planned circular walk and set off to see if we could find the barrow. Not an easy task as, having once been quarried, Randwick Wood is the full of small mounds and dips. We had climbed over a few wooded bumps before we came across a metal National Trust information plaque which was actually headed "More Than Just Lumps and Bumps" (I have posted a photograph of this beautifully made plaque as it is one of the best I have encountered). It helped us to identify the Iron Age Cross-Dyke, a 2000 year old earthen mound and ditch, the purpose of which can only be guessed at as either defensive or a boundary marker. And finally with the help of OS Explorer map 179 we found the long barrow – only really identifiable by its alignment of east to west. A Neolithic long barrow dated 4500 – 5400 years old; it was partly excavated in 1883 when human skeletons were found in stone lined chambers. The Cotswold Way runs through Randwick Wood and I have to say it is one of the most atmospheric and unusual woods I have yet to walk through – apparently full of bluebells in the spring. |
Posted by tjj2nd September 2010ce Edited 3rd September 2010ce |
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Visited early spring (1.3.2009), hoping that the lack of vegetation would make this multi-phase site easier to see (which it did). Approached from Haresfield Camp hillfort, along the Cotswold Way, a pleasant walk through the woods on a fairly level route. Standish Woods are in NT care, and the first feature is a notice board headed "More Than Just Lumps and Bumps", next to a low Iron Age cross-dyke running NW-SE into the wood. The board has a nice picture of a typical forecourted long barrow. I had anticipated a close cousin (or at least a recognisable relative) of West Tump, as Randwick Long Barrow also lies hidden in the heart of a wood. However, there the similarity ended. Randwick, unusually, is on the summit of the hill - most Cotswold Long Barrows lie down-slope. The interior of the wood has been extensively altered by quarrying, and the barrow seems too high, too big. I walked around it several times to make sure that this was the barrow and not some other feature: summit of hill? check. North end of quarrying site? check. Recognisable long barrow? ...erm. The mound itself is overgrown with brambles and doesn't have the feel of a long barrow, with no sign of forecourt or real shape. I left feeling disappointed, almost hoping I would find the 'real' barrow over the next lump. Sadly I didn't. I did however pass two nicely shaped round barrows, quite small and low. I imagine these will be hidden once the undergrowth returns in the summer. |
Posted by thesweetcheat1st March 2009ce Edited 1st March 2009ce |
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This long barrow lies in Standish Wood above Randwick. It was dug into in the 1880s by a Mr G B Witts, when it had two cotswold-severn style horns and a single corbelled chamber with a mass of bones inside. He also found some skeletons just outside the south-west end of the barrow which he took to be 'slaves buried with their chief'. The aptly named owner, Mrs Barrow, demanded that the walls and chambers exposed should be covered up again to protect them from damage, which they were. There are also some later round barrows and other earthworks on the hill. Nearby lie areas (now of the outskirts of Stroud) called 'Puckshole' and 'Paganhill', should you think this relevant in illuminating past beliefs. (arch. info from James Dyer's regional archaeology of the Cotswolds and Upper Thames) |
Posted by Rhiannon12th November 2003ce |
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