Exploration of potential sites has ground to a halt whilst the summer growth is at its most prolific. With lack of outdoor research to do but with the urge to get out on a beautiful September day, I thought it would be good to see how Culverswell Barrow was looking. Followers of this blog will know that this unknown barrow was rediscovered by me many years ago in a position predicted at a high point on an alignment and thus is crucial in validating my work.
I have previously described my interest in the possibilities of using LIDAR contours and that I have downloaded the Crooksbury area. The picture below shows the barrow located within the LIDAR contours and moved slightly to coincide with the landform. This brings it more perfectly onto the alignment and a few metres nearer to the twelve Druid Miles position. My early theodolite research, before the growth of silver birch obscured the view, suggested that the line from Whitmoor Barrow, through Hogs Back Barrow, was aligned to the mid-winter sunset.
Clicking on the PDF link below will show that the diameter is 26.5 metres (87 feet) and that the altitude is 110.25 metres.
Culverswell revised with LIDAR
There is a small car park about half a kilometre south of Littleworth Cross on the west side of the road and from here a forestry track goes past the barrow on the south side. Since my previous visit the site has been extensively cleared of Scots Pines and for the first time the barrow is clearly visible. In the picture below, taken from the forestry track, the barrow can be seen on the horizon in the centre of the photograph.
This picture shows how the ground is ravaged by the extraction works but happily the barrow itself does not appear to have been much affected by the tracking of large machinery, possibly because it is dry as opposed to the more boggy ground below it where some deep tyre tracks are visible in the sandy surface.
Below is the best view I could get of the barrow showing how prominent is its position in the landscape with uninterrupted views to the South Downs.
Standing on the highest point it can be seen that the bracken is obscuring the surface and a return visit in the spring, once this has died back, is anticipated.
