Barrow on Gallows Hill, Ivinghoe Beacon, Ashridge Estate

Summary

The monument is a bowl barrow situated on the rounded summit of Gallows Hill (or 'Gallows Nap' on old maps) , 800 metres east of the entrance to Ivinghoe Beacon hill fort . The barrow mound survives as a substantial circular mound 23 metres in diameter and up to 2.3 metres high on its downslope N side and 1.6 metres high on its uphill S side.The barrow summit has been slightly disturbed in the past leaving it slightly hollowed to a depth of 0.3 metres. There is no indication of the surrounding ditch from which the barrow material would have been constructed. This may however survive as a buried feature, which could be estimated as c.3 metres.

Identification Images (1)

Monument Types

Description

The monument is a bowl barrow situated on the rounded summit of Gallows Hill (or 'Gallows Nap' on old maps) , 800 metres east of the entrance to Ivinghoe Beacon hill fort . The barrow mound survives as a substantial circular mound 23 metres in diameter and up to 2.3 metres high on its downslope N side and 1.6 metres high on its uphill S side.The barrow summit has been slightly disturbed in the past leaving it slightly hollowed to a depth of 0.3 metres. There is no indication of the surrounding ditch from which the barrow material would have been constructed. This may however survive as a buried feature, which could be estimated as c.3 metres.

This is mound no. 3 in Dyer's 1959 study of Chiltern's barrows [1] which states 'Air photos show 4 others beside no. 3 on Gallows Hill. All very close'.

No trace of the other four barrows has been found.

The mound was presumably used as the site for the Ivinghoe gallows. The name Gallows Hill being associated with a place called Gallows Nap which may represent the site of a gallows where offenders were executed.The site is a classic gallows location, close to the parish boundary and overlooking a main road, in this case the ancient Icknield Way. It is interesting to note that the c.1809 map of Ivinghoe parish [4] names a close below Gallows Hill as 'Bone Hill', suggesting that there was at least a collective memory of bodies having been interred on this site.

Gallows were normally constructed from two vertical posts and a cross-piece from which the criminal was hanged. A gibbet on the other hand was a single post with a hoizontal arm from which a metal cage was suspended. The cage was used to exhibit either whole or partial bodies of criminals executed elsewhere.

Human bone fragments have been discovered around the mound areas for many years, including one skull with marks consistent with having been decapitated by a sword [5]. Kelke [6] describes the barrow as 'A small circular mound called "Gallows Hill" and notes 'In the latter, I was told, several human skeletons have been found by workmen digging for stones or sand'. The bone fragments may have a number of sources; remains of gallows victims; suicides (often buried at such locations); Bronze Age burial or secondary Anglo-Saxon internment.Several flint flakes, some with secondary working, have also been picked up from the mound [5] but their whereabouts is not known.

During the Second World War an anti-aircraft gun was mounted on the mound [7]. There are several sections of threaded iron bar projecting from the barrow which are presumably associated with this 20th c. use of the site.

(G Marshall)

Brief Description of Round Barrow Cemeteries.

Round barrows (of which a bowl barrow is one type) date to the Bronze Age (2000-700B.C.).They usually comprise of fairly closely spaced groups of up to 30 barrows. The construction is that of rubble or earth being piled up to cover single or multiple burials. In the case of the bowl barrow type, the mound material was principally obtained by digging a circular ditch and heaping the spoil in the centre to cover the burial. The surrounding ditches often silt up over time, but are usually visible as a faint depression or as a crop mark. Most cemeteries developed over a considerable period of time, often many centuries They were also often re-used for secondary burials as in the case of Anglo-Saxon burials. They exhibit considerable diversity of burial rite, plan and form, frequently including several different types of round barrow. Occasionally earlier forms of long barrow are associated with round barrow cemeteries. Wherever large scale excavation has been undertaken beyond barrows, contemporary and/or later "flat" burials have been found. This should be taken into consideration when assessing how best to manage the overall barrow cemetery landscape.
Round barrow cemeteries occur across most of lowland Britain, with a marked concentration in Wessex and in some cases they cluster around other monuments such as henges.

(M Solik)

References

Designations

Other Statuses and References

Associated Events

Associated Finds

None Recorded

Related Records