Buy this picture |
aerial photograph of Bronze Age barrows on Martinhoe Common Devon UK. Taken in the drought of 2018 the unusually dry weather shows enigmatic lines in the ground around the Tumuli. Originally these would have been cairns built over internment pits and covered with turf, however all at this site have been robbed out. There are 7 Tumuli at Martinhoe varying in diameter from 5.5m to 12m. An eighth barrow showed on 1940s aerial photographs and was still visible in a survey from 1961 but all trace has since been lost. This series of drought aerial photographs shows some interesting possibilities, in particular in this image if you look to the left of the the clearly visible barrow ,on the left side of the image just above half way is a green Barrow sized mark. The linier features are also intriguing and were described as " a sort of avenue" in a 1939 survey. The more regular lines are likely to be anti-glider defenses that cover the site at various intervals dating from the second World War.