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Location:
Wiltshire,
England.
(O/S
- SU 113634 ). |
Grid Reference:
51� 22' 8.41" N, 1� 50' 15.56" W. |
Adam's Grave:
(Long Barrow).
This long barrow is about 60m (196ft) long and 6m (19ft) high. On either
side are ditches still 6m (19ft) wide and 0.9m (3ft) deep. At the SE end are
traces of a sarsen stone burial chamber. In 1860 John Thurnam opened this
chamber to find three or four incomplete skeletons and a leaf-shaped
arrowhead.
Originally, there seems to have been a retaining wall of sarsens and
drystone around the barrow. In AD 592, when two warriors, Coel and Caewlin,
fought beside it, Adam's Grave was known as Wodnesbeorg.
(Map of
site)
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Adam's Grave: ('Woden's Barrow', 'Walkers Hill'). |
Adam's Grave is a destroyed Neolithic
long barrow on the summit of Walker's hill in Wiltshire, with
commanding views of the Marlborough downs. It is a part of the
larger prehistoric ritual landscape surrounding the Avebury/Silbury
complex. Originally, it would have had a chamber system inside
the mound similar perhaps to that seen at West Kennet. The
magnificent side-ditches are a feature of both chambered and
un-chambered long barrows on the Wessex chalk.
(1)
Adam's Grave from overhead.
The long-barrow is situated in the heart of the
Avebury landscape. Adams Grave is 3 miles further south along the
Ridgeway from the Sanctuary, which is the official end-point. The
Ridgeway actually continues south to the foot of Woodborough hill, in
the valley of Pewsey, between Knapp hill and Adam's Grave.
Just along from the barrow
is the Alton Barnes White Horse, dug in the 19th Century. You are
supposed to sit on the eye and make a wish!
(Other Prehistoric English sites)
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