West Tump Long Barrow

About

The monument includes a long barrow orientated WNW-ESE on the crest of a west-facing hillside in the Cotswolds. The barrow, one of the so called Cotswold-Severn group, has a mound which measures approximately 48m long and 3m high at its highest point. It is approximately 10m wide at its west end, 23m wide in the middle and 12m wide at the east end. On either side of the mound is a berm approximately 5m wide, and a ditch. Material was excavated from the ditches during the construction of the long barrow mound. The ditches can no longer be seen at ground level, but survive as buried features approximately 5m wide. The barrow was discovered by G B Witts in 1880, and subsequently excavated by him in the same year. Witts noted that the south east end was seen to curve in slightly forming characteristic `horns', and that the mound was surrounded by a dry stone wall.  Finds included pottery and a leaf-shaped arrow head. One sherd of pottery and the arrowhead, are now in Cheltenham Museum. The remains of the `horns' can be seen today forming a depression approximately 3m wide and 0.75m deep. Stonework is exposed but masked by tree root growth. A depression in the top of the barrow approximately 2m in diameter and 0.5m deep marks the position of the excavation into the chamber.