Belas Knap Long Barrow
Belas Knap is a particularly fine example of a Neolithic long barrow featuring a false entrance and independently accessible side chambers. Other examples, such as Uley and Nympsfield barrows, have strongly emphasised entrances with chambers opening out on either side of a central passage. At Belas Knap the impressive entrance is a dummy and the burial chambers are entered from the sides of the barrow – when closed and covered by earth they would have been invisible from the outside. It was probably constructed around 3000 BC and was used for successive burials over a period of years until eventually the burial chambers were deliberately blocked. Opinion differs as to the reason for the false portal. It may have been to deter robbers, although little in the way of value has been found in undisturbed tomb chambers. Alternatively, it could be that the false entrance functioned as a ‘spirit door’, intended to allow the dead to come and go and partake of offerings brought to the tomb by their descendants. Although Belas Knap seems in good condition, this is the result of several restorations. Romano-British pottery found inside one of the burial chambers show that it was open in Roman times. It was explored between 1863 and 1865 using the archaeological methods of the time, and some years later was restored by Mrs Emma Dent of Sudeley. In 1928–30 the site was excavated again, before being restored as we see it today. Belas Knap Long barrow has a trapezoid mound, rather unusually orientated north–south, with a drystone retaining wall. At the northern end of the mound is the forecourt, which consists of a recess flanked by two ‘horns’, or projections of the mound. This is fronted by the false entrance of two standing stones and a lintel stone. Four burial chambers have been identified within the mound; these are situated in the south-east, north-east, west and south of the monument. Each chamber was probably enclosed by its own small mound that was later incorporated into the main barrow structure. During the 19th-century excavations, the false entrance was found to cover the remains of six skeletons, including five infants, which are thought to be early Bronze Age interments. The south-eastern chamber contained the remains of two males and two females along with animal bones and flint artefacts. The north-eastern chamber contained twelve burials, the western chamber fourteen, and the southern chamber just one. The excavators also reported finding a circle of flat stones beneath the centre of the mound, though these were later removed.
North Leigh Roman Villa
As visitors approach along a bridleway the site
is visible below to the right, and its rectangular arrangement is immediately
apparent. This was a ‘courtyard villa’, having a range of buildings on each of
three sides of a rectangle, with a corridor and gatehouse closing the courtyard
on the fourth side. Significant finds of pre-Roman Iron Age pottery and
other features beneath the former south-west range show evidence of earlier
occupation, and it is known that the development of the site was lengthy and
complex. The Iron Age settlement was superseded by the first Roman development
in the 1st or early 2nd century AD. This phase consisted of three buildings
along the line of what was to become the north-west range, one of which was a
bath-house. Another structure served as a linking corridor. Early in the 3rd
century were added the south-west and north-east wings, partially enclosing the
courtyard. These wings were later extended and the original north-west range
entirely rebuilt, probably in the early 4th century. At this stage the villa
incorporated 4 bath suites, 16 mosaic floors and 11 rooms with under-floor
heating. Aerial photographs have revealed that there were further buildings
beyond the south-west range – perhaps including an aisled barn or hall – which
may have formed a home farm for the villa. The villa was abandoned when the
Romans withdrew from Britain in the 5th century. North Leigh ranks among
the larger villas of Roman Britain. A few of these villas may have been the
residences of Roman officials, but the majority are now thought to have been
the homes of leading members of the native population who were co-opted into
the empire and rewarded with lavish buildings and a superior way of life. North
Leigh Roman Villa is noted for the 3rd century mosaic floor displayed on the
site. (This floor was lifted and re-laid in 1929.) The shed over the mosaic
floor is one of two built by the owner of the site, the Duke of Marlborough,
following excavations between 1812 and 1814 and after two other mosaics had
been destroyed by souvenir hunters. It is not known when the small cottage,
formerly used by a custodian, was erected; it was first recorded in 1921, and
may date from the 1812–14 excavation work.
Built by the War Department in 1941-42, it was commissioned by the RAF in July 1942 as a satellite to nearby RAF Bicester, which was an all-grass airfield and proved unserviceable during wet winter periods. No. 13 Operational Training Unit moved to Finmere, bringing with them Bristol Blenheim Mk1 (short-nose) and Mk4 (long-nose) bombers. By the time of the arrival in 1943 of the similarly equipped No.307 Ferry Training Unit (FTU), formed at RAF Bicester in late 1942 to train pilots to ferry aircraft to northwest Africa, No.13 OTU had moved onto the American Douglas A-20 Boston and North American B-25 Mitchell, much heavier aeroplanes with tricycle undercarriage. The arrival of these aircraft meant that Finmere quickly eclipsed its parent station at Bicester in terms of operational importance, as they could not land at Bicester. The arrival of no. 307 FTU also aided its pilots' conversion to the more modern types, as they had the opportunity to fly them back-to-back with their own Blenheims. There were also occasional visits from Spitfires and Tempests from the Fighter Affiliation Flight at Bicester, training bomber crews in retaliation and avoidance of enemy fighters. 1944 saw No.13 OTU convert to the de Havilland Mosquito: over the next years, Finmere became a major centre for Mosquito aircrew training with almost fifty airframes available, turning out thirty trained crews per month for the war in the Far East. This was pre-empted by the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Post-war and up to the present day. After the sudden end of the Second World War, Finmere was used to store large amounts of surplus ammunition, but was emptied and closed in the summer of 1945. The hangars survive in good condition and are used for light industry/agriculture, but all other surviving buildings are in an advanced state of decay: the former control tower is surrounded by scrap metal. The main east-west runway survives in its entirety, but only half of its length (the eastern half) is in usable condition: this is used for Microlight flights and training. Of the other two, less than a quarter of the length of the western runway survives, the rest now just being grass, while two-fifths of the eastern runway survives, albeit in unusable condition. The bottom two-fifths are now covered by trees, with the middle fifth being laid to grass.
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