Monument record MBC43697 - A subcircular mound of uncertain date and function, Mursley

A subcircular mound of uncertain date and function is visible on remote sensing data as an earthwork and was mapped as part of the North Buckinghamshire Aerial Investigation and Mapping project (EBC18304). Located on a former field boundary about 196 metres NW of St Marys Church in Mursley and centred at SP 81577 28683, a low subcircular mound is about 10 metres in diameter. The feature has not been mapped from historic aerial photographs as the site remains covered by heavy tree cover from a former field boundary line for many years and so, if extant at that time, is not visible. Aerial photographs taken in 1961 show that all the trees have been removed except one at the location of the mound. In 1973, aerial photographs show that the field is under crop except for an area around the site of the mound where the tree remains. By 1993, the tree has been removed and the whole field appears to have been plough-levelled, with no evidence of an earthwork. It seem probable that the lone tree remained untouched because of its position on a mound that made ploughing impractical or undesirable until the whole field was cleared by 1993. In 2019 the site is visible as a dark circular soilmark (1-5).