Asthall Barrow: an Anglo-Saxon burial mound 100m SSW of Barrow Farm

Asthall barrow is a high-status Anglo-Saxon burial mound from the seventh century AD. It is located in Asthall, Oxfordshire, and was excavated in 1923 and 1924.

Asthall barrow is located along the strip of the A40 connecting the towns of Witney and Burford; it is immediately north of the A40 where it connects to Burford road, and just south of the byroad leading off Burford to Asthall and Swinbrook. The barrow is prominently located. It sits by Akeman Street where the Roman road crossed the River Windrush, the site of a onetime Roman settlement. It has expansive views, and overlooks the Thames Valley from Lechlade to Wytham Hill. To the north it looks out at Leafield barrow; to the south appears Faringdon Hill and beyond it the Berkshire Downs at White Horse Hill, while to the southeast Sinodun Hill near Dorchester appears, with the Chilterns in the distance. The barrow gives its name to surrounding structures, such as Barrow Plantation, Barrow Farmhouse, and Asthall Barrow Roundabout.

The barrow stands 2.4 m (7 ft 10 in) high, and is about 55 ft (17 m) in diameter. It was recorded as 8 ft 6 in (2.6 m) high around 1907, but, in 1923, as 12 ft (3.7 m) high. It is surrounded by a 4 ft 6 in (1.37 m) high dry stone retaining wall. Once covered in trees including beeches and firs, likely planted in the nineteenth century, the barrow is now topped by a single, prominent, sycamore; the remaining growth was removed during conservation work in 2017 or 2018. The presence of Romano–British grey wares in the barrow's soil, like the downward sloping surrounding land, suggests that the barrow may have been constructed by scraping up the surrounding topsoil. The land around the barrow is cultivated up to its edges, and in 1992 was planted with barley crops. Originally the barrow probably stood larger; in 1923 an elliptical section surrounding the southwest circumference was recorded as approximately 4 in (10 cm) higher than the field, suggesting that it was once a part of the barrow. That the barrow's finds were not in the centre of its present dimensions also suggests that its original dimensions were somewhat different. Slippage of the barrow's soil may also help explain t

Archaeological site data from Wikidata (CC0). Summary from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).