Lew mound (The Gatehouse Record)

In the civil parish of Lew.
In the historic county of Berkshire.
Modern Authority of Oxfordshire.
1974 county of Oxfordshire.
Medieval County of Berkshire.

OS Map Grid Reference: SP31890634
Latitude 51.75483° Longitude -1.53926°

Lew mound has been described as a Timber Castle but is rejected as such.

There are earthwork remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.

Description

Barrow lies on a small round hill and is visible from all directions. Measures 30m in dia and up to 2.8m high. Slightly irregular profile due to animal disturbance and natural erosion. No sign of ditch. The mound measures 30m in diameter and stands up to 2.8m high. It is constructed of stone, collected from the local area, and turf. Its profile is now slightly irregular due to limited disturbance by burrowing animals and natural erosion over time. There is no evidence of a ditch around the mound itself; this is a common feature of hlaews in the county. The 1830 edition of the Ordnance Survey map shows that the small ditched enclosure in which the barrow stands was then known as Barrow Grove. Site appears to be artificial mound of roughly similar dimensions to above. Biggest threat is from rabbit warrens. No artefacts visible on surface. Traces of ditch visible, but enclosed area. Very small for bailey; ditch more likely an old field boundary or drainage ditch. Lew means '(at the) tumulus', V.hlaew (under hlaw). Classified as Saxon hlaew for MPP. Originally classified/scheduled as castle mound. Later interpreted as bell barrow or slumped bowl barrow. (Oxfordshire HER)

Even given that Lew is probably a much reduced village the site is isolated and very unlikely as a manorial centre.

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Scheduled Monument Number 1015323, Legacy Scheduled Monument Number 28150
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 334469.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 2577.

Books
- Potts, W., 1907, in Page, Wm (ed), 'Ancient Earthworks' VCH Oxfordshire Vol. 2 p. 346 online transcription

Most of the sites or buildings recorded in this web site are NOT open to the public and permission to visit a site must always be sought from the landowner or tenant.
It is an offence to disturb a Scheduled Monument without consent. It is a destruction of everyone's heritage to remove archaeological evidence from ANY site without proper recording and reporting.
Don't use metal detectors on historic sites without authorisation.

The information on this web page may be derived from information compiled by and/or copyright of Historic England, County Historic Environment Records and other individuals and organisations. It may also contain information licensed under the Open Government Licence. All the sources given should be consulted to identify the original copyright holder and permission obtained from them before use of the information on this site for commercial purposes.
The author and compiler of Gatehouse does not receive any income from the site and funds it himself. The information within this site is provided freely for educational purposes only.

The bibliography owes much to various bibliographies produced by John Kenyon for the Council for British Archaeology, the Castle Studies Group and others.

Suggestions for finding online and/or hard copies of bibliographical sources can be seen at this link.
Minor archaeological investigations, such as watching brief reports, and some other 'grey' literature is most likely to be held by H.E.R.s but is often poorly referenced and is unlikely to be recorded here, or elsewhere, but some suggestions can be found here.

The possible site or monument is represented on maps as a point location. This is a guide only. It should be noted that OS grid references defines an area, not a point location. In practice this means the actual center of the site or monument may often, but not always, be to the North East of the point shown. Locations derived from OS grid references and from latitude longitiude may differ by a small distance.
Further information on mapping and location can be seen at this link.

Please help to make this as useful a resource as possible by contacting Gatehouse if you see errors, can add information or have suggestions for improvements in functality and design.
Help is acknowledged.

Data >	PastScape	County HER	Scheduling
Maps >	Streetmap	NLS maps	Where's the path	Old-Maps
Data/Maps >	Magic	V. O. B.	Geology	LiDAR	Open Domesday
Air Photos >	Bing Maps	Google Maps	Getmapping	ZoomEarth
Photos >	CastleFacts	Geograph	Flickr	Panoramio