Swanborough Tump

51.3398°N 1.8142°W / 51.3398; -1.8142

Swanborough Tump marker stone

Swanborough Tump is a mound of earth in Manningford parish, Wiltshire, England. It has been considered to be a bowl barrow dating from the Bronze Age and is listed as a scheduled monument.[1]

The mound was the meeting place of the ancient Swanborough Hundred and has been linked with the "Swanabeorh" of a 987 AD Saxon charter titled 'Barrow of the peasants'. Although recorded by Leslie Grinsell as a bowl barrow, the structure is untypical of a prehistoric burial mound and may instead have been built as a meeting-place during the Middle Ages.[2]

This location is also significant as it was chosen in A.D. 871 as the meeting place for King Aethelred and his brother, the future King Alfred the Great on their way to fight the Danes. They promised each other that if one of them should die then the dead man's children would inherit land belonging to their father King Aethelwulf.[3] A stone monument and plaque at the site commemorate this event.

References
  1. Historic England. "Swanborough Tump, Manningford (1004743)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 25 December 2021.
  2. Historic England. "Swanborough Tump (221166)". Research records (formerly PastScape). Retrieved 25 December 2021.
  3. "Swanborough Tump". Visit Pewsey Vale.
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