Preston Candover Long Barrow facts for kids
Preston Candover Long Barrow is a very old burial mound found near the village of Preston Candover in Hampshire, England. It's called a long barrow because it's a long, raised area of earth where people were buried a very long time ago. This one is special because it doesn't have a stone chamber inside.
Experts like archaeologist Ian Kinnes have noted that this long barrow is one of only two known examples found on the North Downs, a range of hills in southern England. The other one is the Badshot Lea Long Barrow in Surrey.
What Was Found Here?
Over the years, some interesting objects have been discovered at the Preston Candover Barrow. These items likely date back to England's early medieval period, which was around the 7th or 8th century.
One important find was an iron spearhead. It was found inside the barrow in the late 1800s. At first, some thought it was from the Early Iron Age. However, later studies by an expert named Christopher Hawkes showed it was from the early medieval period, specifically between the 5th and 7th centuries.
Another discovery was a scramasax, which is a type of large knife or short sword. This was found near the edge of the barrow. By the late 1930s, this scramasax was kept in the collection of Basingstoke Museum. Experts hoped that more digging might uncover even more about what happened at the barrow in early medieval times.
How Was It Studied?
In the late 1800s, some people, including Reverend Sumner Wilson, believed the Preston Candover mound was a long barrow because of its shape. However, another expert, O. G. S. Crawford, disagreed. On the official maps made by the Ordnance Survey, it was actually marked as a round barrow, which is a different shape of burial mound.
Later on, two other people, G. W. Willis from Basingstoke Museum and J. R. Ellaway, told Christopher Hawkes that the first idea was correct. They explained that the mound had only started to look like a round barrow because farming had flattened it over recent years. This shows how important it is to study these old sites carefully!
