Featured: Explore Scotland (and everywhere else) with our Megalithic Portal iPhone app

Explore Scotland (and everywhere else) with our Megalithic Portal iPhone app

Megalithomania by John Michell, Only £4.99 + P&P

Megalithomania by John Michell, Only £4.99 + P&P

Who's Online

There are currently, 313 guests and 1 members online.

You are a guest. To join in, please register for free by clicking here

Sponsors

<< Other Photo Pages >> Barrow Hill (Teddington) - Round Barrow(s) in England in Greater London

Submitted by Andy B on Thursday, 25 April 2013  Page Views: 7560

Neolithic and Bronze AgeSite Name: Barrow Hill (Teddington) Alternative Name: Barrow Field, Bushy Park, Teddington Tumulus
Country: England
NOTE: This site is 2.2 km away from the location you searched for.

County: Greater London Type: Round Barrow(s)
Nearest Town: Kingston  Nearest Village: Teddington
Map Ref: TQ16287037
Latitude: 51.420426N  Longitude: 0.3291W
Condition:
5Perfect
4Almost Perfect
3Reasonable but with some damage
2Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site
1Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks
0No data.
-1Completely destroyed
Destroyed Ambience:
5Superb
4Good
3Ordinary
2Not Good
1Awful
0No data.
2 Access:
5Can be driven to, probably with disabled access
4Short walk on a footpath
3Requiring a bit more of a walk
2A long walk
1In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find
0No data.
5 Accuracy:
5co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates
4co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map
3co-ordinates scaled from a bad map
2co-ordinates of the nearest village
1co-ordinates of the nearest town
0no data
5

Internal Links:
External Links:

Ken Howe writes: One of the most amazing features of Teddington's history is that we have or should say, had a Bronze Age barrow in the town. One of only three in the Greater London area, out of about 40,000 in the country.

Teddington's barrow stood at Sandy Lane, about 350 yards from the Teddington gate to Bushy Park. At its peak, it was 12’3” high and 96’ in diameter; it must have been an imposing landmark for miles around. The earliest record I have discovered of this is in Charles Bridgeman’s map of the Bushy Park estate of 1730. It is shown as a tumulus at the side of the main road to Kingston. It was known as Barrow Hill and was in Barrow Field. Various local rumours arose about it and some claimed it to be a mass grave for victims of the Great Plague. This so disconcerted William IV, then Duke of Clarence and living in Bushy Park, that he blocked all attempts to investigate it.

The barrow withstood the enclosure of Bushy Park in Wolsey’s day, although it may have lost its southern tip in road widening, and also the Teddington Enclosure Act of 1800 when all of the common land was apportioned amongst the existing landowners. Fifty-eight acres of copyhold land granted to Thomas Davis Esq included the barrow. It was suggested that Field Lane which turns south from the High Street, was the pathway to the barrow from the old town centre.

It is not clear what resurrected interest in the barrow; maybe rumours that the new railway was to cut through it, or perhaps the new national pastime of archaeology found its way to Teddington. The Surrey Archaeological Society was formed in 1853 and they sought permission from the landowner to excavate the barrow. On their first anniversary – 30th June 1854 – 150 members and visitors held their first AGM, lunched at the Griffin in the marketplace and then set off across Kingston Bridge for their first ever ‘dig’ at the site.

They quickly found evidence of treasure hunters and other signs that the barrow had been disturbed but they pressed on to the very centre of the mound and were rewarded to find a pile of burnt bones on which had been placed a fine bronze dagger. On the floor of the grave were several fragments of charcoal and pieces of worked flint. A second day’s digging revealed a second cremation only four feet below the apex and later, the bones of a third burial, an adult buried superficially were found.

As archaeology was in its infancy at that time, there was no plan or sketch of the site ever made and the interesting finds seem to have been dispersed amongst the members nearest to the diggers. The following year the London and Middlesex Archaeological Society was formed and all finds were handed over to them. At their second AGM, their President Rev Thomas Hugo exhibited the dagger and a flint from the barrow. In 1860 it was reported that the dagger had ‘suffered considerably from incautious handling’ and would not be shown again. Indeed there is no record of it ever being seen again!

The barrow itself has come to a sorry end. As housing and road widening have moved in, an electricity sub-station has been installed on what remains of this once impressive site.

I have spent many years following clues to the whereabouts of the finds from the barrow but have only succeeded in tracing some of the flints that were discovered. An array of very interesting people have come to light in the course of my enquiries and these would provide the basis for a Victorian mystery drama themselves.

Anyone wishing to known a little of this saga should obtain The Bronze Age Barrow at Teddington by me, Ken Howe, available at Teddington Waterstones priced £3.

Source: TW11 Magazine

With thanks to John Lindsay and Paul Bennett (here) for additional information.
You may be viewing yesterday's version of this page. To see the most up to date information please register for a free account.


Do not use the above information on other web sites or publications without permission of the contributor.

Andy B has found this location on Google Street View:

Nearby Images from Geograph Britain and Ireland:
TQ1670 : Bushy Park in early autumn by Marathon
by Marathon
©2011(licence)
TQ1670 : The edge of Bushy Park by Marathon
by Marathon
©2011(licence)
TQ1670 : Flats, Teddington by N Chadwick
by N Chadwick
©2016(licence)
TQ1670 : US Army Air-forces Memorial Bushy Park by Sean Davis
by Sean Davis
©2020(licence)
TQ1670 : Deer at Bushy Park by Peter S
by Peter S
©2016(licence)

The above images may not be of the site on this page, they are loaded from Geograph.
Please Submit an Image of this site or go out and take one for us!


Click here to see more info for this site

Nearby sites

Click here to view sites on an interactive OS map

Key: Red: member's photo, Blue: 3rd party photo, Yellow: other image, Green: no photo - please go there and take one, Grey: site destroyed

Download sites to:
KML (Google Earth)
GPX (GPS waypoints)
CSV (Garmin/Navman)
CSV (Excel)

To unlock full downloads you need to sign up as a Contributory Member. Otherwise downloads are limited to 50 sites.


Turn off the page maps and other distractions

Nearby sites listing. In the following links * = Image available
 2.0km SE 131° King Stone (Kingston-upon-Thames)* Marker Stone (TQ1786769069)
 2.3km ESE 121° Kingston Museum* Museum (TQ1830169219)
 3.1km ENE 58° Richmond Park Long Barrow Artificial Mound (TQ189721)
 3.2km E 84° King Clump Artificial Mound (TQ195708)
 3.6km NE 41° King Henry's Mound* Artificial Mound (TQ18607315)
 4.6km NNE 20° Museum of Richmond* Museum (TQ1774374697)
 6.1km E 84° Caesar's Camp (Wimbledon)* Hillfort (TQ224711)
 6.2km E 81° Caesar's Well (Wimbledon) Holy Well or Sacred Spring (TQ22377151)
 7.0km ENE 70° Putney Heath Round Barrow(s) (TQ22797295)
 8.7km ESE 111° Morden Park* Artificial Mound (TQ245674)
 8.8km WSW 258° Shepperton Henge* Henge (TQ07686832)
 9.1km N 359° Elthorne Park Sarsen* Natural Stone / Erratic / Other Natural Feature (TQ15927947)
 9.4km WNW 293° Bedfont Cursus (TQ075738)
 9.4km SE 146° Bourne Hall Museum* Museum (TQ218627)
 9.5km SE 145° Ewell Springs (Surrey)* Holy Well or Sacred Spring (TQ219627)
 9.9km SE 144° Hatch Furlong Ritual Shafts* Misc. Earthwork (TQ223625)
 10.5km S 174° Ashtead Common Earthwork* Misc. Earthwork (TQ176600)
 10.9km W 277° Ashford Henge* Henge (TQ054715)
 11.3km WNW 291° St. Anne's Well (Stanwell)* Holy Well or Sacred Spring (TQ056742)
 11.6km SW 223° St George's Hill* Hillfort (TQ085618)
 11.7km WNW 292° Stanwell Cursus* Cursus (TQ053746)
 12.4km WNW 297° Heathrow* Cursus (TQ050757)
 12.7km WSW 256° Chertsey Museum Museum (TQ040670)
 12.9km SE 140° Gally Hills Barrow Cemetery (TQ249607)
 13.0km ESE 118° Queen Anne's Well (Carshalton)* Holy Well or Sacred Spring (TQ279645)
View more nearby sites and additional images

<< La Motte (Jersey)

Gonur Tepe >>

Please add your thoughts on this site

Explore Wales with the amazing Megalithic Portal smartphone app

Explore Wales with the amazing Megalithic Portal smartphone app

Sponsors

Auto-Translation (Google)

Translate from English into:

"Barrow Hill (Teddington)" | Login/Create an Account | 1 comment
  
Go back to top of page    Comments are owned by the poster. We aren't responsible for their content.
Re: Barrow Hill (Teddington) by Andy B on Thursday, 25 April 2013
(User Info | Send a Message)
Street View (site of)

View Larger Map
[ Reply to This ]

Your Name: Anonymous [ Register Now ]
Subject:


Add your comment or contribution to this page. Spam or offensive posts are deleted immediately, don't even bother

<<< What is five plus one as a number? (Please type the answer to this question in the little box on the left)
You can also embed videos and other things. For Youtube please copy and paste the 'embed code'.
For Google Street View please include Street View in the text.
Create a web link like this: <a href="https://www.megalithic.co.uk">This is a link</a>  

Allowed HTML is:
<p> <b> <i> <a> <img> <em> <br> <strong> <blockquote> <tt> <li> <ol> <ul> <object> <param> <embed> <iframe>

We would like to know more about this location. Please feel free to add a brief description and any relevant information in your own language.
Wir möchten mehr über diese Stätte erfahren. Bitte zögern Sie nicht, eine kurze Beschreibung und relevante Informationen in Deutsch hinzuzufügen.
Nous aimerions en savoir encore un peu sur les lieux. S'il vous plaît n'hesitez pas à ajouter une courte description et tous les renseignements pertinents dans votre propre langue.
Quisieramos informarnos un poco más de las lugares. No dude en añadir una breve descripción y otros datos relevantes en su propio idioma.