EDO7854 - Geophysics survey of a possible long barrow at Sopley; survey 2019

Nineteenth-century antiquarians investigated a long mound in the vicinity of Sopley with later evidence that a barrow, possibly the same monument, was destroyed to make way for a landing ground during WW2. AVAS and The Christchurch Antiquarians undertook a resistivity survey with the aim of locating the destroyed monument. This was conducted on a grid of 20m squares trasversed in a zig-zag pattern and reading were taken every metre along the traverse with an interval of 1m. The results of the gradiometer survey were plotted using a linear greyscale. There was a stricking anomaly of a high resistance feature which covered a significant portion of the survey area. The anomaly is iregualr in shape, 20m wide by 66m in length and a rounded end to the south. This rounded end to the mound-like anomaly is possibly a buried ditch, although it can not be recorded with any detail. There is discussion as to whether a long barrow would exist in this location as they are normally located in the Chalk of Southern England. The geophysical evidence, provides a site for the long mound to a precise degree. However, it is still to be proven whether this feature was actually a prehistoric long barrow, as assumed by the Victorian antiquaries.