Monday 29 March 2010

Early life in my home town.

The above photograph which i took the other day in one of our local woods may just look like a heather covered mound of earth to you and me, but believe it or not it is evidence of early life in Woking. It is in fact a tumuli or a Bell Barrow built by Bronze age man around 1500BC.

Bell Barrows are buriel monuments (not chambers), thought to be for important members of the community maybe chiefs or elders. Bell Barrows are rare nationally and are even rarer in Surrey. The existance of this one indicates that Woking was probably an important site for early Bronze age man, but nobody knows why. All i know is that i find it quite incredible that Woking was inhabited over 3500 years ago. Quite humbling really.