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| · | Intro |
| 0:01 | · | so this map it's causing me a bit of a headache every so often when you're searching through some |
| 0:07 | · | old maps a little nugget of curiosity comes up and slaps you in the face and before you know |
| 0:11 | · | it you're looking through some old books you're looking through some more old maps |
| 0:14 | · | and modern maps that curiosity has turned into this wonderful rabbit hole and it's now yours |
| 0:19 | · | to dive and delve into and that's exactly what has just happened here so this one had |
| 0:24 | · | something on it that bothered me so much that I thought well I'm going to visit this in person |
| 0:29 | · | this is the very gorgeous New Forest National Park and we're kind of on the south coast of |
| 0:34 | · | uh England now if I show you a quick map of this particular part of the New Forest this |
| 0:39 | · | heathland here right here well you can see there are no other features other than Elkhams Grave |
| 0:44 | · | there's no roads there's no crossroads there's no bridal ways nothing else in the landscape other |
| 0:50 | · | than this Heathland every time I've come across one of these graves before well they're outside |
| 0:55 | · | of a parish they're on a crossroads they're on a main route they're on a parish boundary and |
| 0:59 | · | that's for very good reason i'll come to that shortly so why Elkhams grave this is not what |
| 1:04 | · | it seems let me explain why [Music] okay this is what's referred to as a crossroad grave doesn't |
| · | Sawyer |
| 1:14 | · | look like much it's in the middle of nowhere and it is a very old crossroad the route used to join |
| 1:19 | · | Newbury to Basingstoke used to come across here but now it's just some old tracks some old farm |
| 1:25 | · | tracks in the middle of nowhere and if we look at the 1880s maps we see that route has moved |
| 1:29 | · | a bit further north now but our crossroad still remains with that old route it actually crosses |
| 1:34 | · | perpendicular to a Roman road and that forms our crossroads but if we zoom in a bit more we see |
| 1:40 | · | something else really curious sawyer's grave add to that we're also on a parish boundary okay so |
| 1:47 | · | you might be thinking by this point what exactly is a crossroad grave so here's your context |
| 1:52 | · | crossroad Grave is that burial place of a particular type of criminal that had committed a |
| 1:56 | · | crime against him or herself positioned here away from the parish on the boundary unable to move on |
| 2:04 | · | okay so this is the site of Sawyer's grave and really frustratingly the research on this comes |
| 2:10 | · | to a dead end almost straight away we just have word that this was a crossroad grave we have no |
| 2:16 | · | stories passed on no folklore absolutely nothing to give us any tangible sense of what happened |
| 2:22 | · | here or to Sawyer him or herself so I guess now the big question is well how do we know |
| 2:27 | · | this is a crossroad grave we just have this random marking on a map what exactly does all this mean |
| · | Oram |
| 2:36 | · | so we have a site that's just up ahead so this route here I'm on now is an old sort of coaching |
| 2:42 | · | road i think it connected Salisbury with Devizes and there's probably some old milestones along |
| 2:46 | · | here sort of 1700s so a main road this was back in the day and what I'm looking for just up ahead |
| 2:52 | · | is something that crosses this perpendicular a parish boundary now unlike Sawyers and Orams we |
| 3:00 | · | have nothing marked on the modern OS maps but if we flip back to the late 1800s and right up |
| 3:05 | · | until the 1930s where we do have this one marked on those maps this is Oram's grave now it didn't |
| 3:13 | · | take a huge amount of research to find out we have a man called James Orum who on the |
| 3:17 | · | 25th of July 1768 committed a crime which would end his life we have a record of the Wilshire |
| 3:24 | · | Coroner's bill suggesting what he charged for the 12mi journey he made okay so this |
| 3:30 | · | is the very spot this is a crossroads we've got the uh the main old coaching route going |
| 3:35 | · | this way right through where I'm standing perpendicular to this we've got the parish |
| 3:39 | · | boundary the furthest point you could be outside of that parish on that crossroads now this wasn't |
| 3:45 | · | the last crossroad grave to be placed right here at this spot there are more records so |
| 3:51 | · | it seemed like it was quite a common practice but we do have a bit of an issue with this it |
| 3:56 | · | would be over 100red years until we see the name Oram on the maps the 1880s OS maps detail Oram |
| 4:04 | · | and when we look a bit closely well we find well we find that Orum's grave that's right here on |
| 4:10 | · | this very spot that we can evidence and we can see in actual records has now become confused |
| 4:17 | · | on those 1880 maps with a prehistoric barrerow the barrerow was presumably I think on top of |
| 4:23 | · | that hill there maybe 100 200 yards away well the practice that of the crossroad graves here is now |
| 4:31 | · | been conflated completely tied up with something that happened in prehistory they've become one |
| · | Kitts |
| 4:44 | · | So on the travels I'm often accused of not looking or taking folklore seriously enough |
| 4:49 | · | and I'm looking at the sort of the archeological and the science i brought with me today Jenna from |
| 4:53 | · | the channel Cross and Combe now Jenna touches on folklore a bit more than I do is that fair |
| 4:59 | · | to say i think yeah I think that's probably fair to say and why why could folklore be useful to |
| 5:05 | · | us why do you enjoy it well I I absolutely find folklore quite fascinating because when you're |
| 5:11 | · | reading the stories of folklore now some of them are so completely offthe-wall and |
| 5:15 | · | you kind of find yourself thinking I'm not sure there's much truth in that but some of them you |
| 5:19 | · | think you know what is there a nugget of truth in this and it it gets me excited because then |
| 5:24 | · | I want to try and find out what that truth is so I tend to use folklore as a way of bringing |
| 5:30 | · | a place to life when I when I do a video so with that in mind let's tackle Kit's grave we |
| 5:35 | · | have traveled to Martin down in Hampshire just southwest of Ssbury now if we start |
| 5:40 | · | researching this we come across some wonderful sites and straight away we have some confusion |
| 5:45 | · | about finding Kit's grave in fact the modern anti aquarium website suggest that Kit's grave |
| 5:51 | · | is cotles bur or cotlesburg a barrerow basically mentioned in an Anglo-Saxon charter in fact two |
| 5:59 | · | Anglo-Saxon charters and they locate that bur that hill that barrerow as right here there are |
| 6:06 | · | indeed some extremely knowledgeable blogs which even themselves state that Kit's grave is in |
| 6:11 | · | fact a very indistinct long barrerow so likely Neolithic or Bronze Age so this dear viewer is |
| 6:18 | · | a long barrow this is not Kit's grave and let me explain exactly why I think that is the case |
| 6:25 | · | so as Jenna and I walk this direction away from the long barrow we want to try and do is have a |
| 6:30 | · | look at the evidence for that long barrerow being a red herring so first of all if we have a look at |
| 6:35 | · | the OS maps where we see something we absolutely love we see three counties coming together on one |
| 6:40 | · | point just up ahead of us we also have parish boundaries we have a border and we have quite |
| 6:46 | · | a significant routeway all to the west of that long barrel we also then can flip to the early |
| 6:52 | · | OS maps the late 1800s and we have a much better understanding of where Kitt's grave was just take |
| 6:58 | · | a look at this now Kitt's grave is here right on the crossroads and the Long Barrow well that's way |
| 7:02 | · | over here and here is that crossroads we've got a route that goes this way sort of north southish |
| 7:10 | · | we've got the point where three counties meet Wiltshire Hampshire and Dorset and we've also |
| 7:14 | · | got a parish boundary as far as we're concerned this is the spot of Kit's grave not the long |
| 7:19 | · | barrow just back there but how exactly does this help us solve the Alchem's grave mystery |
| · | Woots |
| 7:31 | · | okay slight confession to make i made a spreadsheet so when I first started doing |
| 7:35 | · | this research I went through every single local uh crossroad grave I could find cuz I wanted to |
| 7:40 | · | see if they had anything in common so I made this spreadsheet detailed every aspect what maps were |
| 7:44 | · | they on and current ones the old ones and when I looked at some of the older maps well I found |
| 7:49 | · | two really old ones on the 1759 Taylor's maps and we have Woots and Moth's Grave we're talking 1759 |
| 7:59 | · | the Taylor's map 1759 and here we are Moth's Grave and if I flip to some others I've managed to print |
| 8:06 | · | off well we've got Beas and Woots on these really old maps but that's it they don't appear any later |
| 8:12 | · | on the 1880s maps they're gone on the modern maps they're gone and the problem we've got with these |
| 8:18 | · | maps is well it's just planted right there it could be within a 5m radius of the text on the |
| 8:24 | · | map okay so a little bit of research and we have something that might help william Moff of Sherborn |
| 8:30 | · | St john died 24th of August 1738 and we have a very tangible link there with a crossroad it's |
| 8:38 | · | on the very old map so is this it is this the the crime committed against oneself and the placement |
| 8:44 | · | of the body on that crossroad grave job done however William Moff died an extremely wealthy |
| 8:51 | · | man worth over £30,000 in the 1700s now here's a curious thing he ordered his cops to be laid |
| 8:59 | · | in a grave about 6 ft deep in a public field which he purchased near Rook's Downtown and |
| 9:06 | · | gave his tenant £50 that it should never be dug up or plowed up again so are we seeing maybe the |
| 9:12 | · | 1880s OS maps with the traditional crossroad grave and maybe these earlier ones the 1759 ones well |
| 9:19 | · | maybe those were for the rich and the famous well that's what I thought until I found this now this |
| 9:26 | · | here details Moff and his demise and it suggests that when he was found well he was found with no |
| 9:33 | · | money albeit his will left land what he was soon to be said to be relying on the parish to keep him |
| 9:39 | · | going had he lived any longer he was buried with no funeral service either way though wow how does |
| 9:46 | · | this though tie in and help us more importantly with Alcam's grave back in the New Forest |
| · | Elkham |
| 9:54 | · | now we're now as I say here in the heart of the New Forest trying to find Elkhams grave no idea |
| 10:00 | · | exactly what we're looking for as such so I guess the question is Jen how can folklore help us find |
| 10:08 | · | what we're looking for because I'm often very quick to rule it out and that's probably not a |
| 10:11 | · | good trait of mine well the first thing would be to find out if there are any stories about |
| 10:16 | · | what Elkhams grave is and maybe that can help help us understand what we're actually looking |
| 10:21 | · | for however in this instance we haven't really been able to find any stories at all um so in |
| 10:27 | · | terms of being related to crossroad graves it's entirely possible that a long time ago there may |
| 10:33 | · | well have been something of a crossroad in this area that has since disappeared and maybe whoever |
| 10:40 | · | put the early map completely missed it yeah and um when they then put the OS maps together they |
| 10:48 | · | spoke to the locals and this name has existed in the folk memory of the of the people even though |
| 10:53 | · | that crossroad has since disappeared so it might be that actually Elkhams grave is not here it's |
| 11:01 | · | somewhere else and it's just been completely lost now when we first came here we had no clue what |
| 11:05 | · | we were looking for other than Elams on the map but after all the other associations with the |
| 11:11 | · | long barrerows and the barrerows could this one be the same well lidar gave us that clue we just now |
| 11:17 | · | seem to be associated with the barrerow and we're going to try and find that barrerow right now we |
| 11:21 | · | are going to try and find it right we think we're we're kind of at the right location here in terms |
| 11:28 | · | of we've just looked on the lidar and we found a big lump in the ground and we think this is this |
| 11:33 | · | is roughly where it is now we've just had a bit of a like a look around in this area and we can't |
| 11:38 | · | find anything it's on the liar and yet looking in these trees in front of us i mean if we have |
| 11:43 | · | a look in this hedge here there's no mound at all there's no mound but either either way we can't |
| 11:50 | · | seem to find I mean this is this is where you'd think looking on the LidAR kind of right here but |
| 11:55 | · | we've just got like as flat as can possibly seem it said on like mealic portal it's raised a couple |
| 12:01 | · | of feet off the ground but absolutely nothing we can't see any Paris boundaries we can't see any |
| 12:05 | · | sort of roots that we know of this Elkhams grave doesn't add up at the moment for us it's possible |
| 12:11 | · | that you know if it did exist if there was a crossroad grave originally that actually over time |
| 12:16 | · | it's become associated with something prominent in the landscape which may itself now have been |
| 12:22 | · | has been disappearing so now all we're left with is the name Elkhams Grave and no one's a mystery |
| 12:29 | · | one of history's many mysteries yeah so either way the conclusion because you lot love a conclusion |
| 12:35 | · | and an opinion well I've got one on this for a change so these were as we know graves of a |
| · | Jenna |
| 12:41 | · | particular type a crossroad a boundary somewhere outside of the parish or the community and in some |
| 12:48 | · | cases the name didn't always pass on to that particular spot what translated into a feature |
| 12:54 | · | on the landscape a barrow a long barrerow or in some cases like this one here Elkhams perhaps a |
| 12:59 | · | whole chunk of the landscape a hill so I've been Paul this has been Jenna jenna is doing a video |
| 13:05 | · | on crossroad graves too but with a slightly different twist yes yes i'm actually going to |
| 13:09 | · | be looking at the beliefs behind why people were buried at the crossroads um the superstitions some |
| 13:16 | · | of the stories and I'm also going to be visiting a few other location well probably two locations |
| 13:21 | · | cool um that are quite famous actually in the UK so brilliant right go subscribe to |
| 13:25 | · | Jen's channel link here link below link in the pin comment etc see you this time next week |
| 13:32 | · | [Music] |
