Barrows
There are literally hundreds of intact Bronze Age burial mounds, locally known as ‘butts’, in the New Forest including round barrows, bell barrows, and disc barrows. Locally, barrows were known to be ‘Burial Places of Giants’, with giants responsible for their construction and fairies or other supernatural beings known to be living within them. Seven barrows found together were known to be particularly associated with fairies. Some even had their very own legends about them, such as one known as Cold Pix’s Cave on Beaulieu Common, which is haunted by a spirit named the Colt Pixy.
Several Neolithic long barrows have also survived in the immediate areas surrounding the New Forest such as Giant’s Grave, a single 68m long mound found at Breamore near Downton. The mound is accompanied by the ‘Giant’s Chair’, bell barrow, not far from ‘Grim’s Ditch’ which, according to local folklore, was created by the devil (a word that from the 1200’s referred to ‘false’ gods i.e., the old gods and land spirits of the British Isles).
Another notable site is Stagbury Hill Barrow Cemetery, near Bramshaw. The Stagbury mound is likely to be a natural formation, but one that has been used by settlers for thousands of years for different purposes. There are four surviving burial mounds at the top of the hill (both round barrows and bell barrows, circa 1500-1100 BCE).
– Vikki Bramshaw, author of the book ‘New Forest Folklore, Traditions & Charms’
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