Oxfordshire, 25 N.E. Parish of Wychwood. 64a.

Latitude 51° 50' 55" Longitude 1° 31' 07". Height above O.D. a little over 500 feet.

I am indebted to Mr. E. Thurlow Leeds, F.S.A., for most of the following information. I have not seen the barrow yet.

The barrow is described as being on the north side of Churchill Plain ('plain' here being used in its original sense of an open tract in wooded country). This open glade between Wort's Well and the first capital 'C' in Churchill Copse. The barrow is on the south side of the mam S.W.-N.E ride, about 300 yards N.W. of Wort's Well. In N.O.A.S. it is described as folbws "Before reaching the spot [Mr. Pretty] had to ascend a high ban , and on arrival at its summit he found ... a square slightly intrenched work, measuring 60 feet on each side, the ditch being 3 feet wide. At the edge of the intrenched work, looking over the valley, he found a platform, about 3 feet in height, which had apparently been used as a stone altar. In the opposite direction he came to a long barrow, which was as perfect as if it had been in a gentleman s garden, preserved for a place of rest. This long barrow was 73 feet in length and 38 feet in width across." It has since been disturbed. It is about a quarter of a mile from the Slatepits Copse Long Barrow [No. 68].

N.O.A.S., Feb. 9th, 1857, p. 4.

Dryden Manuscripts, Northampton Museum, (1858).

P. Manning MSS., Ashmolean Museum, Oxford.

Oxfordshire, 21 N.W. Parish of Enstone. 66*.

Latitude 51° 54' 38". Longitude 1° 27' 02'. Height above O.D. 537 feet.

The following account is given by Sir Henry Dryden (1897-8):- "This is seven miles S.E. from Rollrich. It is on elevated ground about a quarter of a mile S. of Enstone village at the crossing of the road between Tew and Charlbury with the road between Norton and Ditchley. ... The dolmen is in a ruinous state. It consists of six stones, three standing and three prostrate." He gives the following dimensions:-

South stone, height, 9 ft. (5 ft. 5 ins. by 3 ft. 4 ins.)

2. West stone, 4 ft. 10 ins. (4 ft. 10 ins. by 4 ft.)

3. North stone ,, 3 ft. 3 ins. (but it was found to be 1 ft. in the earth, making its real height, 4 ft. 3 ins).

"These three bounded a chamber of about 5 ft. by 3 ft. 6 ins. The next stone on the E. (5) now prostrate, was no doubt a side stone, 5 ft. 2 ins. wide. Farther E. is a prostrate stone (6) 7 ft. 4 ins. by 4 ft., formerly iioris'ht It is probable that the chamber had two stones forming the north side, two forming the south side, and one at each end, or possibly with the E. end walled up with smaller stones. To the N. of these stones, at 5 feet distance, a prostrate stone (7) 8 ft. 6 ins. by 8 ft. 6 ins., but of an irregular form and about 3 ft. thick, which was almost certainly a capstone, but has had a piece broken off it. . It is almost certain that the entrance was, as usual, at the E. A small excavation was made between the three prostrate stones from whlch fragments of pottery, apparently Roman, were obtained .... It is probable that the dolmens at Rollrich and Enstone had entrance passages of at least 7 or 8 feet long decreasing in height and width towards the end. Assuming them to have been covered, the mounds were not less than 13 feet high in the middle and 40 feet in diameter."

The monument is (after the Whispering Knights) the most per- fect of its kind in the county and well deserves attention. The whole area should be cleared of all trees and vegetation ; the ivy should be exterminated ; the partially covered, fallen stones should be uncovered, and the original surface level laid bare. Expert advice should be taken as to the condition of stones i and 2 which appear to be in danger of falling. No action of any sort, however, should be taken without expert advice, preferably that of H.M. Inspector of Ancient Monuments at the Office of Works.

R. Plot. Nat. Hist, of Oxfordshire, 1705, p. 351.

Gough's Camden, 1789, i., 294.

Hearne's Collections (Oxf. Hist. Soc.) VIII., 269.

Gent's Mag., XCIV, 1824, 125 (woodcut, reproduced above).

J. Beesley. History of Banbury, 1841, 7-8.

W. C. Lukis. Bircham Barrows, 1843, 12.

Arch., XXXVII., 433; XLII., 202.

Oxfordshire Archaeological Society, Trans., 1899, 47-49. (Sir Henry Dryden).

Lukis Collection (MSS), Lukis Museum, Guernsey (Dryden's Plan, scale -ff).

Wilts. Arch. Soc.'s Library, Devizes. Book of drawings and prints of megalithic monuments ; catalogued N. fol. 72. Pen and ink sketches before the wood was planted.

Oxfordshire, 22 N.W. Parish of Steeple Barton. 120.

Latitude 51° 55' 08". Longitude 1° 19' 29'. Height above O.D. about 420 feet.

Mr. E. Thurlow Leeds, M.A., F.S.A., contributes the following note:- According to Wing, a monument called the Hoar Stone, originally consisting of ' two side-pieces and a lintel,' was destroyed at the end of the year 1843 ; but by order of the proprietor, Henry Hall, the pieces were collected and piled on the spot occupied by the monurnent. It stood on land belonging to Mr. Hall of Barton Abbey, Oxfordshire.

This account was verified by a visit (October 19th, 1922) which showed that the monument had been the remains of a chambered Long Barrow. The mound is still clearly visible, and was at least 50 feet long. At the eastern end is the pile of broken stones referred to by Wing. They are a reddish sandstone quite unlike the oolitic stone of which the more westerly Long Barrows are formed. The monument stands on high ground in a park and is under permanent grass. It would appear to be the most easterly megalithic structure in Southern England, ex- cepting the Kentish group. There are two pine trees growing on the mound.

W. Wing. Antiquities of Steeple Aston, 1845, 2.

A.J. VI., 290.

History of Enstone, by the Rev. J. Jordan (1857).

It was excavated by Edward Conder, Junior, and Lord Moreton in 1894. The following summary of the results, based on the account published in Proc. Soc. Ant., is contributed by Mr. E. Thurlow Leeds, M.A., F.S.A. "There were found (i) a chamber at right angles to the long axis of the barrow ; on the south-eastern side of the barrow were two uprights, 4 feet 2 inches by 2 feet 10 inches, and i foot 9 inches by 2 feet 8 inches. At the north-western end of the chamber were two uprights, set with their long faces [edges ?] abutting. On the surface-line at the level of the base of the barrow were traces of paving and fragments of bone, pottery and charcoal. (2) Chamber, a little south of the south-east corner of No. i, slightly above the ground level. It was formed of three uprights, on the north, east and west sides respectively, and a paving slab with a perforation 4 inches in diameter. At the north- eastern end of the barrow was a ridge of large ' rug ' stones up to 8 feet long, 5 feet wide, and 2-| feet thick, terminating in a standing stone [that already described above and still standing] 10 feet 6 inches high, 5 feet Q inches wide and between 13 nnd 18 inches thick, buried 3 f®®^ below ground level. At the south west end was a standing-stone, 4I feet by 3 feet by ii inches thick, in a horizontal position lying east and west, 2 feet below the surface. At various points were found skulls and human and animal bones and hearths, with no indications of date, and (as secondary interments) two Saxon graves."

In the North field, in which the standing stone is situated, and about 100 yards due north of it, is another long mound which appears to be a Long Barrow. It is 30 paces long and highest and broadest at the northern end. It is very stony. Not far from it, between it and the stone, is an old quarry, covered with a dense thorny scrub, into which many mossy stones have been pitched, the remains, doubtless, of one or both barrows and their chambers.

Proc. Soc, Ant., London, 2 S., xv., 1895, pp. 404-410. (Plan 1:192 and sections).

R. Plot. Nat. Hist, of Oxfordshire, 1705, 343.

Gough's Camden, I., 294.

V.C.H., Oxfordshire, n., 344.

Oxfordshire, 25 N.E. Parish of Wychwood. 68*.

Latitude 51° 50' 44" Longitude 1° 31' 20" Height above O.D. a little over 500 feet.

The site of this Long Barrow was located on the map by me on October 24th, 1922. It lies in Slatepits Copse, in the S.E. quadrant, 66 paces E. of the main north and south ride, measured eastwards from a point in that ride 240 paces south of the inter-section of all four. It is 97 feet long (by tape) and about 6 feet high (by estimation), oriented approximately east and west. At the east end are three large stones No. I is 3 ft. 10 ins. high, 6 ft. 8 ins. wide and 8 ft. thick; No. 2 is 3 ft. 10 ins. high (sloping measurement) but actually the top is 2 ft. 9ins. from the ground measured vertically ; it is 6 ft. 6 ins. wide and about a foot or more thick. No. 3 is partially covered by moss and grass, but it appears to be about 4 ft. 7 ins. wide and is certainly as much as 3 ft. 6 ins. wide. It is still standing upright, but may have been broken off. No. 2 leans eastward, and is either a fallen lintel or the closing stone at the west end of a chamber, whose other stones are represented by Nos. I and 3. Nos. i and 3 are 4 ft. 10 ins. apart. The mound stands in a clearing in the wood and has small spindle bushes and bracken and a single oak tree growing on it. It has been dug into at a point immediately west of the chamber but not apparently to any depth, or elsewhere. It is well worth careful protecting. There are no signs of ditches. There is much black earth south of the west end. In N.O.A.S. it is said that three skulls were found in the chamber by the keeper who first discovered it. A rough plan with notes by the Rev. Charles Overy is preserved in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford.

V.C.H. Oxfordshire, ii., 344.

Arch., XXXVII., 1857, 433.

N.O.A.S., Feb. 9th, 1857, p. 4.

Oxfordshire, 14 N.W. Parish of Little Rollright. 69*.

Latitude 51° 58' 30". Longitude 1° 33' 52". Height above O.D. about 730 feet.

Stukeley in 1746 described the monument as follows:- "'Tis composed of six stones, one broader for the back part, two and two narrower for the sides, set square to the former ; and above all, as a cover, a still larger. The opening is full west, to the temple or Rowldrich. It stands on a round tumulus, and has a fine prospect south-westward down the valley, where the head of the Evenlode runs."

Sir Henry Dryden in 1897-8 described it as follows:- "About 356 yards E. from the [Rollrich] circle and S. of the road, is the dolmen about to be described, called ' The Five Whispering Knights,' It is in a ruinous state. It now consists ot tour stones, upright, or nearly so, and one prostrate, all of coarse limestone. He gives the following dimensions:-

(1) Height, 8 ft. 3 ins. (4 ft. by 2 ft. 6 ins.)

(2) Height 7 ft. 3 ins. (3 ft, 6 ins, by i ft. 10 ins.)

(3) Height 6 ft. 7 ins. (3 ft. 8 ins. by i ft. 4 ins.)

(4) Height 5 ft. 4 ins. (4 ft. 9 ins. by 2 ft.) Leaning.

(5) Capstone (then fallen) 8 ft. 4 ins. by 5 ft. 9 ins., by 2 ft. 4 ins.

"The chamber appears to have been about 5 feet 6 inches W. and E., and the same N. and S. If, as usual, there was an entrance, with or without a passage, it was probably to the E.N.E, . . There is not, so far as I know, any record of remains having been found in this dolmen. In a small stone pit about 700 feet N.E. by E. from the circle it is stated that 12 skulls were found in 1835. In another stone pit near it was found in 1836 an urn and beads, now in the Museum at Warwick, and at about 3 feet off was found a skeleton with which was a ring."