Wiltshire Archaeological & Natural History Magazine, vol. 97 (2004), pp. 63-77 
Neolithic of the Wylye Valley 1: Millennium Re- 
investigation of the Corton Long Barrow, 
ST 9308 4034 
by Michael 7. Allen and Fulie Gardiner 
with a contribution by Rob Scaife 
Millennium events in the parish of Boyton included an archaeology day, led by the writers, during which a visit was 
made to the Corton (Boyton 1) Long Barrow. This visit prompted a limited piece of research on this monument which 
had not been investigated since 1804. Augering through the edge of the barrow and beyond its obvious extent encountered 
a buried soil beneath the mound and provided the first recorded evidence for one of the flanking ditches. Limited 
description and analysis were undertaken and a magnetic susceptibility profile constructed. Preserved land snails and 
pollen from the buried Neolithic land surface indicated clearance of ancient woodland prior to construction, but not for 
this monument. Documentary evidence revealed an interesting history of antiquarian research and an unexpected error 
in the recording or transcription of Mr Cunnington’s survey measurements. 
In 1801 Mr (Aylmer Bourke) Lambert of Boyton 
House, Boyton, in the Wylye Valley issued an 
invitation to Mr William Cunnington of 
Heytesbury to ‘open every barrow upon his 
property’ (Cunnington 1975, 16). One of the first 
barrows Cunnington opened in that same year was 
the Corton Long Barrow (Boyton 1, NMR No ST 
94 SW 37) situated in Tenant Field, Barrow Hill 
above the village of Corton. No records of that 
opening have been found but, on revisiting the 
barrow in 1804 (11-12 September), Cunnington 
concluded that his earlier excavation must have 
recovered a secondary burial, as the presence of a 
large sarsen boulder and ‘eight skeletons lying 
promiscuously in various directions’ on the old 
ground surface (Hoare 1812, 102) in the later (1804) 
excavation indicated that the monument was a 
Neolithic long barrow (Thurnam 1869, 180). 
The barrow (SM12341) overlooks the Wylye 
from its position on the chalk slopes of the southern 
side of the valley at a height of about 140 m OD 
(Figure 1). It is false-crested, more than 12 km 
from the summit of a convex, inverted bowl-shaped 
Middle Chalk slope. This slope descends below the 
barrow and then drops suddenly via a steep ancient 
river cliff (‘Landfall’) into the Wylye Valley (Figure 
lc). Topographically, therefore, the barrow is 
carefully and specifically sited. From it, splendid 
views are afforded of the valley floor and of chalk 
spurs from Battlesbury to the west, down through 
Heytesbury, Knook, and Codford with Salisbury 
Plain behind. The barrow itself is not well viewed 
from the upslope, southern side of Corton or from 
Boyton Down. Only limited views of it are possible 
along the valley side and, because of the steep 
convex slope on which it is sited, it becomes 
invisible from only metres downslope to the north. 
It is clearly sited to look over, and to be seen on the 
skyline from, the Wylye Valley itself. It is less 
spectacularly displayed towards, but is nevertheless 
clearly visible from, the northern valley sides of the 
Wylye (from Upton Lovell and Codford Downs). 
The valley floor itself, unusually, supports at least 
one long barrow at Sherrington (Sherrington 1). 
Redroof, Green Road, Codford St Peter, Warminster BA12 ONW 
