{"product_id":"the-marlborough-mound-9781783271863","title":"The Marlborough Mound","description":"\u003cb\u003eThe Marlborough Mound has recently been recognised as one of the most important monuments in the group around Stonehenge. It was also a medieval castle and a feature in a major 17th century garden. This is the first comprehensive history  of this extraordinary site.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMarlborough Mound, standing among the buildings of Marlborough College,  has attracted little attention until recently. Records showed it to be  the motte of a Norman castle, of which there were no visible remains.  The local historians and archaeologists who had investigated it had  found very little in the way of archaeological evidence beyond a few  prehistoric antler picks, the odd Roman coin, and a scatter of medieval  pottery.\u003cbr\u003eIt was to be archaeology which provided the most dramatic  discovery after the Mound Trust began to restore the mound in 2003.  English Heritage were investigating Silbury Hill, and arranged to take  cores from the Mound for dating purposes. The results were remarkable,  as they showed that the Mound was almost a twin of Silbury Hill and  therefore belonged to the extraordinary assembly of prehistoric  monuments centred on Stonehenge.\u003cbr\u003eFor the medieval period, this book  brings together for the first time all that we know about the castle from  the royal records and from chronicles. These show that it was for a  time one of the major royal castles in the land. Most of the English  kings from William I to Edward III spent time here. For Henry III and  his queen Eleanor of Provence, it was their favourite castle after  Windsor. It marks the end of the first stage of the work of the Mound  Trust, which, following the restoration, turns to its second objective  of promoting public knowledge of the Mound based on scholarly research. \u003cbr\u003eAs  to its final form as a garden mound next to the house of the dukes of  Somerset, in the eighteenth century, this emerges from letters and even  poems, and from the recent restoration. Much of this has been slow and  painstaking work, however, involving the removal of the trees which  endangered the structure of the Mound, the recutting of the spiral path  and the careful replanting of the whole area with suitable vegetation.  By doing this, the shape of the Mound as a garden feature has  re-emerged, and can now be seen clearly.\u003cbr\u003eThis book marks the end of  the first stage of the work of the Mound Trust, which, following the  restoration, turns to its second objective of promoting public knowledge  of the Mound based on scholarly research.","brand":"Richard Barber","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48280638980347,"sku":"9781783271863","price":65.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0779\/3917\/9771\/files\/9781783271863_acd4a896-ba1a-4edf-b7e2-d40d4ef7da5d.jpg?v=1772486588","url":"https:\/\/indiepubs.com\/products\/the-marlborough-mound-9781783271863","provider":"IndiePubs","version":"1.0","type":"link"}