Nearest town:
Nearest village: Alton Priors
Map reference: SU 112634
This barrow -about 60m long- is located
on top of Walker's Hill
(88Kb)
Adam's Grave on Walker's Hill is the most dramatically sited long barrow in Wiltshire. It is remarkable how
prehistoric man improved the landscape by his works: in this instance the site positively enhances the appearance of the
hill where it lies.
This long barrow is about 60m (196ft) long and 6m (19ft) high. On either side are ditches still 6m (19ft) wide and 0.9m (3ft) deep. At the SE end are traces of a sarsen stone burial chamber. In 1860 John Thurnam opened this chamber to find three or four incomplete skeletons
and a leaf-shaped arrowhead.
Originally, there seems to have been a retaining wall of sarsens and drystone around the barrow. In AD 592, when two warriors, Coel and Caewlin, fought beside it, Adam's Grave was
known as Wodnesbeorg.
This barrow -about 60m long- is located
on top of Walker's Hill
(88Kb)
