Monument record MDO46904 - Burials, Shapwick

In the early nineteenth century a number of crouched inhumations were found by labourers working somwhere between Shapwick village and Badbury Rings. These were interpreted as a barrow, possibly of Iron Age date. The exact location of this find is not known.

'Very recently (writers in 1839) whilst the labourers of Mr. M. Small were occupied in lowering a bill midway between Badbury Camp & Shapwicke they discovered in a cist cut in the chalk, a skeleton doubled up & near it an exeedingly curious bone instrument (a comb) which has at one end a hole drilled through it, & at the other extremity eight short tufts like those of a comb. It is 4' long & 1' wide & is part of the rib of a deer. <1-2>

The site of this probable I.A. (?barrow) could not be determined during field investigation, nor the present location of the comb accompanying the crouched inhumation, the latter features of which suggest an I.A. date. <3>

<1> Wools, C, 1839, The Barrow Diggers. A dialogue in imitation of the Grave Diggers in Hamlet. (Monograph). SWX2974.

<2> Crawford, O G S, Annotated record map 6 inch (Map). SWX7265.

<3> Quinnell, N V, Various, Field Investigators Comments NVQ, F1 NVQ 17-MAR-54 (Unpublished document). SDO11903.

<4> National Record of the Historic Environment, 209634 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Aug 1 2023 4:04PM