Details: Swanborough Tump

A ‘tump’ is a mound.  The word derives from the Latin word ‘tumulus’.  Swanborough is an area in the Pewsey Vale in Wiltshire, South West England.  Swanborough Tump is, therefore, a mound in this area.  The mound refers to a possible prehistoric barrow or perhaps more likely a Roman or Saxon burial mound. 

Today, there is a sarsen stone and an engraving which states that Alfred the Great met his brother here before battling the Danes.  Eventually, Alfred defeated the Danes and England as we know it today began to evolve.

So, from a detail, a stone and an engraving on the side of the road, one can begin to picture the UK’s past from its prehistory through to the present which makes details important.

The engraving: ‘Swanborough Tump – Swinbeorg c850.  Here in the year 871 the future King Alfred the Great met his elder brother King Aethelred I on their way to fight the invading Danes and each one swore if the other died in battle the dead man’s children would inherit the lands of their father King Aethelwulf.’