Information for record number MWA1715:
Post Medieval Mound 200m S of Billesley Hall

Summary A mound thought to be of Post Medieval date. During an excavation the mound was found to contain the burial of a horse. The mound survives as an earthwork and is situated 200m south of Billesley Hall.
What Is It?  
Type: Mound, Animal Burial
Period: Post-medieval (1540 AD - 1750 AD)
Where Is It?  
Parish: Billesley
District: Stratford on Avon, Warwickshire
Grid Reference: SP 14 56
(Data represented on this map shows the current selected record as a single point, this is for illustrative purposes only and does not represent an accurate or complete representation of archaeological sites or features)
Level of Protection National - Old SMR PrefRef (Grade: )
Sites & Monuments Record
Description

  
Source Number  

1 1927: Excavation of a 'tumulus' at Billesley Hall. At the junction of the road to Aston Cantlow and the lane from Wilmcote there is a well-marked tumulus, now about 21m in diameter and about 3m high, but which was found to have been 3.8m above the original surface. From one side a trench had been cut; this was done some few years ago when, it was reported, a skeleton of a horse was discovered. Further Excavation at a lower level produced nothing except a single horseshoe. The mound was built entirely of small shaly stone such as can be obtained locally. In the absence of any other evidence it is assumed that this tumulus was made for the burial of a favourite horse in, probably, the 18th century.
 
Sources
Source No: 1
Source Type: Excavation Report
Title: TBAS vol 52:2
Author/originator: Chatwin P B
Date: 1927
Page Number: 305-6
Volume/Sheet: 52:2
   
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Glossary

 
Word or Phrase
Description  
source TBAS Transactions of the Birmingham and Warwickshire Archaeological Society is a journal produced by the society annually. It contains articles about archaeological field work that has taken place in Birmingham and Warwickshire in previous years. Copies of the journal are kept by the Warwickshire Sites and Monuments Record. back
technique Earthwork Earthworks can take the form of banks, ditches and mounds. They are usually created for a specific purpose. A bank, for example, might be the remains of a boundary between two or more fields. Some earthworks may be all that remains of a collapsed building, for example, the grassed-over remains of building foundations.

In the winter, when the sun is lower in the sky than during the other seasons, earthworks have larger shadows. From the air, archaeologists are able to see the patterns of the earthworks more easily. Earthworks can sometimes be confusing when viewed at ground level, but from above, the general plan is much clearer.

Archaeologists often carry out an aerial survey or an earthwork survey to help them understand the lumps and bumps they can see on the ground.
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technique excavation Archaeologists excavate sites so that they can find information and recover archaeological materials before they are destroyed by erosion, construction or changes in land-use.

Depending on how complicated and widespread the archaeological deposits are, excavation can be done by hand or with heavy machinery. Archaeologists may excavate a site in a number of ways; either by open area excavation, by digging a test pit or a trial trench.
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period Medieval 1066 AD to 1539 AD (the 11th century AD to the 16th century AD)

The medieval period comes after the Saxon period and before the post medieval period.

The Medieval period begins in 1066 AD.
This was the year that the Normans, led by William the Conqueror (1066 – 1087), invaded England and defeated Harold Godwinson at the Battle of Hastings in East Sussex.
The Medieval period includes the first half of the Tudor period (1485 – 1603 AD), when the Tudor family reigned in England and eventually in Scotland too.

The end of the Medieval period is marked by Henry VIII’s (1509 – 1547) order for the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the years running up to 1539 AD. The whole of this period is sometimes called the Middle Ages.
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period Post Medieval About 1540 AD to 1750 AD (the 16th century AD to the 18th century AD)

The Post Medieval period comes after the medieval period and before the Imperial period.

This period covers the second half of the reign of the Tudors (1485 – 1603), the reign of the Stuarts (1603 – 1702) and the beginning of the reign of the Hannoverians (1714 – 1836).
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monument ANIMAL BURIAL * Deliberate interment of a complete, or substantially complete, animal. Use the object type thesaurus term ANIMAL REMAINS where skeleton is fragmentary. back
monument STONE * Use only where stone is natural or where there is no indication of function. back
monument ROAD * A way between different places, used by horses, travellers on foot and vehicles. back
monument WELL * A shaft or pit dug in the ground over a supply of spring-water. back
monument TRENCH * An excavation used as a means of concealment, protection or both. back
monument BURIAL * An interment of human or animal remains. Use specific type where known. If component use with wider site type. Use FUNERARY SITE for optimum retrieval in searches. back
monument MOUND * A natural or artificial elevation of earth or stones, such as the earth heaped upon a grave. Use more specific type where known. back
monument EARTHWORK * A bank or mound of earth used as a rampart or fortification. back

* Copyright of English Heritage (1999)

English Heritage National Monuments Record