Calne Hundred, Wiltshire, South-West England, British Isles

On 16th May 1675 Thomas Hungerford (age 73) died at Blackland, Wiltshire.

Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. 978. This year all the oldest counsellors of England fell at Calne from an upper floor; but the holy Archbishop Dunstan (age 69) stood alone upon a beam. Some were dreadfully bruised: and some did not escape with life.

Stonehenge by William Stukeley. Table II. Prospect of the Roman Road & Wansdyke just above Caston May 20 1724. This demonstrates that Wansdyke was made before the Roman Road. [Note. Stukeley would have been stood here [Map] to record this view. Note the gibbet on top of Furze Knoll [Map]. On the left Cherhill aka Oldbury Hill Fort [Map].]

Avebury by William Stukeley. 18th July 1728. Table XI. Rundway hill 18 July, 1723. A. Bekhampton. B. the Model of a Camp. C. Celtic barrows. D. the way to Verlucio. [The drawing shows Silbury Hill [Map] and Cherhill aka Oldbury Hill Fort [Map]]

Stonehenge by William Stukeley. Table II. Prospect of the Roman Road & Wansdyke just above Caston May 20 1724. This demonstrates that Wansdyke was made before the Roman Road. [Note. Stukeley would have been stood here [Map] to record this view. Note the gibbet on top of Furze Knoll [Map]. On the left Cherhill aka Oldbury Hill Fort [Map].]

The Wiltshire Wansdye remains highly visible in the landscape especially when it is crossing chalk downland that has little vegetation to hide it. Its date is somewhat uncertain; most sources consider it to have been constructed around 600AD give or take a hundred years either was. It was definitely constructed before the 9th century when begins to occur in charters.

It appears to start west of Savernake Forest [Map], after which it travels broadly west through Shaw Medieval Village [Map], Furze Hill [Map], Tan Hill, Wiltshire [Map], Shepherd's Shore, Wiltshire [Map], Furze Knoll [Map] after which it disappears, possibly being absorbed into the Roman Road

Wiltshire Archaeological Magazine 1872 V13 Page 103. Notes of a Long Barrow [Map] on Oldbury Hill

Wiltshire Archaeological Magazine 1913 V38 Pages 379-414. Cherhill. 1a. [Oldbury Long Barrow [Map]] Just outside the ramparts of Oldbury Camp, W. of the monument, on the Cherhill — Calne Without parish boundary. Length 60ft. ( Wm. Cunnington¹ ); E. and W. This barrow has been practically destroyed by flint diggers, only a confused heap now remaining. During this digging in 1864 some human bones were found, and Wm. Cunnington visited the spot and further examined the mound. Three skeletons were found " lying with their heads towards the E. in a large shallow grave surrounded by small blocks of sarsen stone."² A second grave was found empty, and in the mound a worn mealing stone of sarsen (Devizes Museum Cat. II. X. 96a) and charcoal. O.M. 27 SE.; Arch. xlii. 203, 218; Mem. Anthrop. Soc. I. 473; W.A.M. xiii. 103 (Cunnington); Smith p. 50, III. C. v. d.: MS. Cat. No. 198.

The barrow is not shown on the O.M. The site may be found by prolonging the curve of the ditch of the outer rampart of the camp to the point where it cuts the parish boundary, just N. of the track. This barrow is referred to by Thurnam as "Oldbury."

Note 1. To avoid confusion it is perhaps as well to explain that there are two William Cunningtons referred to in this list. The elder and contemporary of Sir R. Colt Hoare died in 1810, the younger, who was his grandson, died in 1906.

Note 2. Thurnam has included this among his list of chambered barrows, but this account by Wm. Cunnington, who himself examined the mound, hardly seems to justify its description as a "chambered" barrow.

Memoirs of the Anthropological Society of London Volume 1. Skulls from Long Barrow, Oldbury [Map], Wilts.—In the same year (1864), in digging in a chalk-pit near the ancient British camp of Oldbury, North Wiltshire, about three miles from the elebrated megalithic circles at Avebury, two or three skeletons were uncovered at the base of the east end of what turned out to be a long barrow, of low elevation. The measurements of three skulls, which, though quite dolichocephalous, are of small size, and not very characteristic, are given in the table. Two of the skulls appear to be those of women, and are in the possession of Mr. Cunnington, of Devizes, who assisted in their exhumation. The other skull, that of a man, has been added to my collection (No. 198). Near the skeletons were a number of flint flakes, with one or two cores, from which they had been broken off. At the centre of the mound was a small irregularly-shaped cist, built up with sarsen stones: it was empty. This tumulus, though of oblong form, has not the unequivocal characters of a long barrow; it appears, however, to have belonged to that class.

Wiltshire Archaeological Magazine 1859 V6 Pages 73-74. Account of a Barrow on Oldbury Hill [Map], Wilts. Opened by Mr Cunnington, F.G.S, February 1853.

Funereal Urn, found in a barrow on Oldbury Hill, Wilts. In the Museum of the Wilts Archaeological and Natural History Society, from a photograph by Marshman.