Take one of these...

Add some of these...

And what have you got?

One of these of course!

At the eastern edge of the village of Portskewett, in a privately owned field opposite Black Rock Road and very near to the Leechpool turn, is evidence of a significant neolithic chambered tomb or long barrow. This is Heston Brake burial site.

Heston Brake is raised artificially on the edge of a dingle and having a seeming elevation very much increased by the natural slopes toward the North-east. This mound has a flat summit and commands a view of the Severn towards Aust; it is covered with a venerable shade of oaks and yew trees. In the centre of the summit is a space about 27ft- long by 9ft, wide, surrounded originally by thirteen rude and upright stones, now time-worn, mossed over, and matted with ivy. One is at the East-end, two at the West, and three remain at each side with spaces for the four which have been removed.

So wrote the Reverend William Bagnall-Oakley MA when he excavated the site in 1888. Although the outlook of the site remains unchanged, with the exception of the two motorway bridges over the River Severn, the wooded land and the thirteen rude and upright stones have obviously changed considerably.

A small group of puddingstones mark the entrance of Heston Brake. Human skeletons, cattle bones and some pottery were discovered in the chambers during excavation.



Heston Brake tomb has two connected chambers. The west chamber, which is horseshoe-shaped contained part of a human skull and other fragments of bone. Human teeth and finger bones, the bones of an ox, and two smooth round stones were discovered in the east chamber.



The west chamber is positioned slightly offset from the passage, suggesting that the passage and east chamber may have been later additions to the west chamber.

Personally I find these places fascinating and having spotted this tumulus from the road I simply had to explore...