A start with hopefully more to come

I visited the bronze-age bowl barrows in Brentmoor Heath, prompted to do so by the comments of Speedicus Tripicatum on this blog.

Well, well, there’s been some improvement with the removal of the invasive scrub around the information board, such that the overall shape of the bowl barrows is now visible.

I hate to be a grump criticising work done to these ancient structures. I know they’re not the answer to the meaning of life, certainly not in these unusual times. They are unique structures in Surrey Heath and deserve greater care than they are currently given. The information board stands proudly, describing the barrows and the sarsen stone in particular, which invites inspection by the visitor. Gorse is uncomfortable to walk on when poorly cut back, and is a trip hazard. So I’m not impressed with the quality of work.

I don’t know if Surrey Wildlife Trust, who manage the site for Surrey Heath, intend to continue with scrub and tree clearance on the barrows themselves/ It’s what needs to be done. Here are photo I took of the site this week.

Are our bronze-age bowl barrows getting a makeover?

I love it that people comment on my blog posts, or who speak to me about something I’ve written.

One such regular contributor is ‘Speedicus Triplicatum’ who comments on my article Disappointed the bronze-age bowl barrows in Brentmoor Heath are covered with scrub of a few days ago, writing,

Visited Brentmoor yesterday for the first time in quite a while.

It seems that SWT read your Blog Timster – they’ve started clearing the Scrub away from the Tumuli, at the NoticeBoard & Sarsen Stone section to the East ….

That he gives me the moniker Timster, I rather like. Anyway, Speedicus reports that work has begun clearing away the heavy scrub, mostly gorse, from the bowl barrows [Tumuli is the generic term] near the information board.

I’ll not be able to visit the site for a few days, and will report back when I’ve done so. Here’s the area that Speedicus wrote about when I last visited at the end of February. He’s kind enough to suggest my blog post might have contributed to the actions of Surrey Wildlife Trust, I think not, most likely down to coincidence.

Disappointed the bronze-age bowl barrows in Brentmoor Heath are covered with scrub

On my last lengthy heathland walk, and feeling that Surrey Wildlife Trust had done some good work cutting back heathland trackside vegetation, I walked to the four bronze-age bowl barrows in Brentmoor Heath.

I was hoping that the bowl barrows had had similar vegetation cut back. No such luck. This scheduled ancient monument in a borough remains unloved. I’ll have to write to the Council and the Trust. That’s a morning’s activity allocated – these things always take me longer than I think. I can’t like some simply knock off a letter. I try hard to add all possible evidence I can to get the result I want.

I’ve added three photos of the bowl barrows as they look currently, ( First photo is approaching the bowl barrows, then being alongside them, and finally at the information board ). Below the photos I’ve copied the text from the Historic England website website entry on them., and below that a photo of what they looked like a few years ago.

I’ve written lots of blog posts on them, which you can read HERE, if you’re interested. This article of mine HERE, offers the best chance to learn more about them.

Here’s part of what Historic England say about them,

Despite partial excavation, the four contiguous bowl barrows on West End Common survive well as an outstanding example of a very rare form nationally as well as being the only example of its kind in Surrey. As one of a clearly defined group which, from the evidence of the single ditch, may have been built in a single phase, the site will contain archaeological remains and environmental evidence relating to the social organisation of Bronze Age communities in this area, their economy and the landscape in which they lived.

Asking about Folly Bog and Heathland Maintenance Plan

You’ll undoubtedly know, from reading this blog, that I walk over the local heathland for fun and exercise. You’ll also know that I, on occasion, bemoan of its maintenance, probably because I neither know of the maintenance plan or have any understanding of the management priorities. Perhaps I’m being a bit hard on myself here.

The areas that I mostly walk are Folly Bog in Lightwater and Brentmoor Heath in West End. They are owned variously by Surrey Heath Borough Council, Surrey County Council or by the Ministry of Defence, and the management of this land is provided by Surrey Wildlife Trust. The area of these lands is shown within the area marked black in the map below

On my recent walks I’ve seen the results of maintenance work. Yesterday I encountered some contractors working for Surrey Wildlife Trust removing invasive species from Folly Bog. I, naturally, thanked them for their good work. However, I failed to ask them about their work plan, because I’m too much of a chatty soul. I even walked down into Folly Bog yesterday, it’s very wet and boggy – what did I expect!

On Hangmoor Hill there has been some substantial scrub clearance, alongside the fence to the military land and on Hangmoor Hill itself, which is good, as it’s another route down into the bog. All fine and dandy.

Yet, and it’s an important yet, the trackside ditches on Hangmoor Hill, where the wild orchids flower, remain uncleared, with the scrub taking over and crowding out the space for the orchids. Also, the scrub remains covering the four bronze-age bowl barrows in Brentmoor Heath, making identification of their existence near impossible.

So, I’m resolved to speak to Surrey Wildlife Trust to ask for sight of their Heathland Maintenance Plan. Here are some photos of the recent work done to the area.

 

Neglecting the ancient monuments in our borough

Yes, Surrey Heath is a fine place to live, work, and bring up children. That said, we’re not good at caring for our history.

I won’t bore you with the milestones in our borough and the one that was intentionally damaged. Should you be interested in the topic, then enter ‘milestones’ in the search box at the top of this blog, and you’ll find more than you ever wanted to know.

Back to my grumble. In Brentmoor Heath we have a group of four Bronze-age bowl barrows that are around 4500 years old. They are a Scheduled Ancient Monument – see Historic England entry for details. Yet little can be seen of them, their being covered in scrub. There is a further scheduled monument bowl barrow [see details HERE] near the New England group of houses in Brentmoor Heath, it lies on a sandstone ridge overlooking the heathland, although it’s difficult to make out the barrow as a heathland track runs across it.

I’ve written about the four bowl barrows HERE, which includes references to learned papers and an article on bowl barrows in Surrey. I think we should make more of our ancient monuments, and keep them more in the condition shown in the aerial photograph of them taken in 1932. Here’s a recent photo of the bowl barrows showing how they’re covered in scrub, one of a few years ago when the scrub was cleared though not effectively, and an aerial photo of them in 1932.

I think I’ll have to write some letters and speak to a few people. You can do so also, if you feel minded

Continuing my perambulations and thoughts on bowl barrows in Brentmoor Heath

On Thursday, a lovely dry day this week, I looked for the bowl barrow near the houses at New England, which the estimable Speedicus pointed to the Historic England record, in my article HERE].

In preparation for my investigation I printed the pages about the bowl barrow scheduled monument from the Historic England record. I also looked again at the 1930’s photo of the four bowl barrows, which I claim shows a fifth bowl barrow – see my article HERE. On reflection, I wondered why the archaeologist Leslie Grinsell hadn’t thought there were five bowl barrows when he studied the photo. My conclusion is that his interpretation is more likely to be correct than mine. More research needed by me.

Anyway, back to the bowl barrow at New England [see Historic England record HERE]. Here’s part of that record,

Bowl barrows, the most numerous form of round barrow, are funerary monuments dating from the Late Neolithic period to the Late Bronze Age, with most examples belonging to the period 2400-1500 BC. They were constructed as earthen or rubble mounds, sometimes ditched, which covered single or multiple burials. They occur either in isolation or grouped as cemeteries and often acted as a focus for burials in later periods.

Although it has suffered from some subsequent disturbance, the bowl barrow at New England survives well and will retain archaeological and environmental evidence relating to its construction and original use.

The barrow has a roughly circular mound 16m in diameter and up to 1m high, partly disturbed by long term use of an east-west aligned public bridleway which crosses the monument. Surrounding the mound is a ditch from which material used to construct the barrow was excavated. This has become infilled over the years but survives as a buried feature up to 2m wide. The northern side of the ditch has been partly disturbed by a deep depression, part of a modern sports cycling route.

Here are my photos of what I found. Must say that the bowl barrow is hardly recognisable as such. As a scheduled ancient monument it isn’t identified in the same way as the four bowl barrows.

More about the possible site of the fifth bowl barrow

In revisiting the possible site of the fifth bronze-age bowl barrow in Brentmoor Heath I took a photo of the site from a different angle. While I recognise it’s not clear, it does show a small hump in the centre of the photo, which I believe to be the possible site – see below.

The heathland immediately to the south of the four bowl barrows, and to the left of the fifth bowl barrow – as shown in the 1930’s black and white photo – seems to have little noticeable vegetation.

This is not the case now. It’s difficult to investigate this area as a possible site for the fifth bowl barrow due to the dense growth of vegetation. A photo I took in December 2016 of the area, although, sadly, a little to the right of a possible alternative fifth barrow site, shows that the area had been scraped clean of vegetation. The ground seems to be flat with no recognisable humps or hollows approximating to a bowl barrow. Therefore, I’m moderatly convinced of my choice of the site of the fifth bowl barrow.

Finding the fifth bronze-age bowl barrow remains elusive

Yesterday in the fine sunny weather, and carrying a copy of the 1930’s aerial photo of the bronze-age bowl barrows in Brentmoor Heath, I ventured out to find the elusive fifth bowl barrow.

The photo, below, of the bowl barrows clearly shows the group of four bowl barrows. Less clear is the smaller bowl barrow, indistinct it might be, is the small circular barrow, which can be seen just to the right of the larger barrows. Below this photo is what I discovered.

I tramped around the heathland looking for evidence of the fifth barrow. Not having exact measurements of its location it was always going to be difficult to locate, and so it proved.

I think I found the likely location, although there was no obvious evidence, just an intelligent guess on my part from holding the photo in my hand, and judging where it might be in relation to the other barrows.

Here are two photos of what I found. The first photo looks back the the four barrows – the information board can be seen in the distance. The guess of the location is directly behind the tree at the right in the photo. The second photo is my guess of the location of the fifth barrow. My walking pole can be seen in the background to give a sense of scale. [click on photos to expand]

Looking for the fifth bronze-age bowl barrow in Brentmoor Heath

The four 4000 year old bowl barrows in Brentmoor Heath are easily accessible as a path runs next to them. In the 1930’s photo below – notice the lack of trees – you can just about pick out the fifth bowl barrow.  It is smaller and lies close by to the right of the four bowl barrows.

I’ve long been fascinated by them, and a while back wrote about them in some detail in Accepting the challenge to discover more about the bowl barrows in Brentmoor Heath.

I’ve not located the fith bowl barrow. As part of the need to get out, away from the TV, caused by my addiction to the Tour de France, I’m off to hunt for it.