Page:VCH Berkshire 1.djvu/372

A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE ASTON UPTHORPE. There is a barrow standing in a clump of trees on the Down to the west of Hogtrough bottom. There is also a mound immediately to the east of Lowbury camp, which appears to have been thrown up as a post of observation, as it seems too near the camp to be a burial mound. 1 BEARWOOD. In Bearwood Park is a round hill known as Limmer's Bank, and traditionally supposed to be a barrow, but geologists pro- nounce it to be of natural formation. BEEDON. A large barrow stands in Stanmore Field, which is known as Burrow Hill by the people of the village, who have a tradition that a man of that name was interred there in a gold or silver coffin. It was originally surrounded by a ditch and was much larger than at present, but repeated ploughing has much reduced its size. It was opened in April 1815, when a small interment of burnt bones, with some fragments of an urn, was found ten feet from the summit. The vessel was of the type known as an ' incense cup,' and was ornamented with zigzag patterns ; it was found on the south side of the barrow. Beneath the barrow were found seven perpendicular holes, about two inches in diameter, sunk about a foot in depth below the original level of the ground, containing a deposit of charred wood.' BLEWBURY. There are many barrows on the Downs around Blew- bury, and more are known to have existed formerly. Ten can still be counted without reckoning the long barrow already described. There is one in the hollow on Ashbrook Farm, which has, however, been reduced in height by former ploughing. To the east on Churn Hill are three, the easternmost of which was explored in 1848, when it yielded a few burnt bones. On the lower ground to the east of the latter are two more, in a very good state of preservation. The most western of these was opened in 1 848. At Lower Chance or Chants Farm a barrow is still to be seen, but in 1 846 there were three which were then examined. They contained an unbaked urn, filled with animals' bones, and a bone pin. At Churn knob are two barrows ; one, the larger, is known by this name, while to the south is another, now nearly ploughed away, which was opened at the same time as that in Churn bottom, when all that was found was black earth, and the bones and teeth of horses and other animals, mixed with many small lumps of iron. It is said that formerly there were several others. The circular plantation to the east is said to have contained a barrow, of which, however, nothing can now be seen. Fox barrow, mentioned in the Abingdon Chronicle, is a small round barrow, by the side of Grim's ditch, where the boundaries of Blewbury, Compton and East Ilsley meet. 3 1 Hewitt, Hundred of Compton, 115. 3 Ibid. 125-6. Trans. Newbury Dist. Field Club, ii. 16, 93. Arch. Journ. vii. 65-7. 3 Arch. Journ. v. 279-291. Tram. Newbury Dist. Field Club. iv. 8, 36, 40. Hewitt, Hundr. of Compton, 124-5. 278