Overton Hill, on the chalk downs at the eastern end of the Avebury World Heritage landscape, is a multi-period funerary and ritual focus where three Roman burial mounds stand alongside a Bronze Age round barrow, a pagan Saxon inhumation cemetery, and a short surviving stretch of the Roman road from Cunetio (Mildenhall) to Bath via Verlucio. The Roman barrows are likely 2nd-century AD, part of a small rural cemetery sited deliberately on a prominent ridge already crowded with prehistoric monuments and adjacent to the Sanctuary, the terminus of the West Kennet Avenue.
Source: Pleiades — A Community-Built Gazetteer and Graph of Ancient Places. View the Pleiades record →
The site is a striking example of Romano-British reuse of an ancestral ritual landscape, with conical barrow burials — a rite favoured by relatively wealthy provincials in southern Britain — placed beside an active long-distance road, ensuring visibility to travellers. Its later reuse as a Saxon cemetery confirms the continuing perceived sanctity and territorial significance of the hill.
The Roman barrows were investigated in the 19th century, with antiquarian digging recovering cremation deposits and accessory vessels typical of high-status rural barrow burials in Wiltshire (comparable to the Bronze Age-styled Roman barrows at Mere and at Pen Pits). The Saxon cemetery, examined in the 20th century, produced
Overton Hill, on the chalk downs at the eastern end of the Avebury World Heritage landscape, is a multi-period funerary and ritual focus where three Roman burial mounds stand alongside a Bronze Age round barrow, a pagan Saxon inhumation cemetery, and a short surviving stretch of the Roman road from Cunetio (Mildenhall) to Bath via Verlucio. It is recorded in the Pleiades gazetteer of ancient places as a cemetery site from the Roman period in Britain.
Three Roman burial mounds, a Bronze Age bowl barrow, a pagan Saxon inhumation cemetery and a short length of Roman road on Overton Hill. is classified as a Roman cemetery — a civilian site in the Pleiades ancient world gazetteer. Roman Britain's archaeology encompasses thousands of sites ranging from legionary fortresses and marching camps to villas, temples and towns.
Several Roman sites lie within a short distance, including Section of Roman Road 560m north east of Beckhampton Buildings (4.1 km), A henge, four Bronze Age barrows and part of a Roman road 500m south west of Fox Covert (4.8 km), Round barrow 1260m NNE of Baltic Farm, 75m south of Roman Road, forming part of a barrow cemetery situated on North Down (7.1 km). Aubrey Research maps over 2,200 Roman sites across Britain, drawn from the Pleiades ancient world gazetteer.
Aubrey Research generates detailed historical reports for any location in Britain, incorporating Roman heritage, Domesday Book records, scheduled monument data, archaeological finds and much more. Enter a nearby address to begin.
Aubrey generates in-depth historical research for any address in Britain — drawing on Roman heritage, Domesday records, scheduled monument data, archaeological finds and medieval history to reveal the complete story of a landscape.
Research the area around Three Roman burial mounds, a Bronze Age bowl barrow, a pagan Saxon inhumation cemetery and a short length of Roman road on Overton Hill.