A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE 



BLEWBURY. A strange circular pit, called Curnel or Cucknel pit, 

 lies in a hollow on the Downs above Blewbury near Churn bottom. It 

 has been surrounded by a vallum, the outside of which was carefully 

 formed, and was very convex in form. Much of this vallum has now 

 disappeared, and the rabbits have disfigured the greater part of the 

 remainder, so that only a small portion shows the original section. It 

 has been suggested that this was a Roman amphitheatre. 1 



BUCKLEBURY. There is a group of long low mounds on Bucklebury 

 Common which have sometimes been described as tumuli, and are tra- 

 ditionally called ' the graves.' Several of these were opened in 1877 by 

 Canon Greenwell, General Lane-Fox and others, when some small 

 fragments of charcoal alone were found. 1 



LAMBOURN. Among the tumuli, known as Seven barrows, are 

 two which deserve special mention, as they are much lower than the 

 others, and are surrounded by valla about 1 25 feet in diameter. Between 

 the vallum and the central tumulus there is in each case a deep fosse. 



LETCOMBE BASSETT. On Mere End Down at the extreme south end 

 of the parish, and not far from some tumuli, the side of the down is shaped 

 into a number of nearly level and almost square terraces, giving the 

 hillside the appearance of a terraced chess board. These were obviously 

 not formed for the sake of defence, nor could they have been caused by 

 ploughing, as the length of each square is too small, and the only 

 reasonable explanation seems to be that they are the result of spade 

 cultivation, and that we have here the site of a prehistoric village. 

 On the other side of the valley, in Lambourn parish, near Stancombe 

 Farm, are further examples of the same type, but not so clearly marked. 



EASTHAMPSTEAD. There are four small redoubts on the crest of 

 Easthampstead plain, not far from Broadmoor, erected in 1792, when 

 the first army manoeuvres were held in this neighbourhood. 



' Tram. Newbury Dist. Field Club, iv. 40. ' Ibid. ii. 256; iii. 1 68. 



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