The Burial Mounds
Geophysics Survey of the Burial Mounds
It might seem odd to refer to ‘burial mounds’ as there is little to see on the ground, but most of the circles visible on the aerial photographs and geophysics represent ditches that once surrounded hemispherical burial mounds – round barrows if probable Early to Middle Bronze Age date (circa 2500-1500 BC).
Most appear to be around 20 to 30 metres in diameter, which is a fairly typical size range for this type of monument. What we cannot really tell at present is how large the mounds – now levelled by centuries of ploughing – may have been originally. The longer, oval-shaped ditches may represent monuments featuring a single ditch surrounding more than one round barrow mound.
The number of round barrows – 25 or more – suggests a cemetery that may have built up over some considerable time, and attests to the continuing importance of the location some time after the first monuments were constructed.