Now almost completely invisible, the landscape of the Trent Valley was once full of prehistoric monuments dating from the Neolithic to the Iron Age. Over the course of this project we will investigate some of these and attempt to contextualise and explain them.

Trent Valley Past & Present page

Twyford Round Barrow

Midwinter sunrise from Twyford Round Barrow 2023. Courtesy Mark Knight 2023

Twyford Round Barrow is one of the small number of surviving Bronze Age burial mounds that formerly populated the Trent Valley.  Even in its current state it stands as a reminder of what once was, and what must have been an incredible site as one travelled along the river system.  It still stands perhaps 3m high and is a large mound of raised earth, created from the digging of a deep circular ditch.  Astonishingly, this monument, though dating to the Bronze Age, sits perfectly centrally within an earlier Neolithic henge monument (the remains of which are entirely below ground now) which was some 90m in diameter and had openings within its perimeter facing the SE and NW directions – an alignment on the midwinter sunrise and midsummer sunset.

An alignment of very substantial oak posts leading from the monument towards Anchor Church across the river was unearthed during rescue archaeology in 2023 in advance of quarrying operations.  This alignment seems to indicate that the caves of Anchor Church, although seemingly dating the the 9th century CE, may have had antecedents that were older by at least 1,000 years, perhaps longer.  More research into these fascinating monuments is needed.

There is some fascinating folklore connected with the barrow, including hauntings, the inhumation of English Civil War soldiers, and more.  The barrow is a scheduled ancient monument and protected by law.  A badger sett is gradually damaging the fabric of this monument.