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

Asthall Barrow is a seventh-century Anglo-Saxon burial mound in Oxfordshire. It stands on a strip of the A40 between Witney and Burford, beside the old Roman road that crossed the River Windrush. From the mound the Thames Valley stretches south to Wytham Hill, while to the north Leafield Barrow can be seen. Faringdon Hill and the Berkshire Downs rise to the south, and Sinodun Hill with the Chilterns beyond appears to the southeast. The barrow gives its name to nearby Barrow Farmhouse, Barrow Plantation and Asthall Barrow Roundabout. The barrow was excavated in 1923 and 1924 by George Bowles, brother-in-law of the second Baron Redesdale, with help from Tom Arnold and Edward Thurlow Leeds of the Ashmolean Museum. Bowles sank a twelve-foot square shaft and cut extensions to field level, recording corners A to H on a linen plot now held by the Ashmolean. He found yellowish clay, thick layers of charcoal and ashes, and a large charred timber. The finds included seven vessels, gilded mounts, foil with zoomorphic interlace, and bone pieces from a gaming set. The mound is about seventeen metres wide and two and a half metres high, surrounded by a dry-stone wall. Once topped by beech and fir trees, it now carries a single sycamore after conservation work removed the rest. The land around is cultivated up to the barrow’s edge, and in 1992 barley was planted there. The barrow was scheduled as a monument in 1934 and removed from Historic England’s Heritage at Risk Register in 2018 after tree removal and rabbit-proofing.