Five Knolls Barrow Cemetery

The Five Knolls are prehistoric burial mounds or barrows. There are two pond barrows, which are circular flat areas surrounded by raised banks. The mounds are believed to be from the later Neolithic and early Bronze Age period, around 4,000 years ago. Excavations have found the remains of a middle-aged woman buried with a polished flint knife, as well as Bronze Age cremated remains in an urn. It is also believed that during the 5th and 6th centuries gallows were placed at this spot for Saxon invaders as a warning to others.
nationaltrust.org.uk/dunstable-downs-and-whipsnade-estate/trails/walk-in-the-steps-of-history-giants.

At Dunstable Downs there is a group of seven round barrows, consisting of two bowl barrows, three bell barrows, and two pond barrows. It is thought that they were initially used as burial grounds for Kings or Chiefs, although excavations of two of the bell barrows in August 1850 revealed no treasure to support this.

Excavation history

When the northern-most barrow was excavated in 1928 by Sir Mortimer Wheeler, a crouched female skeleton with a late Neolithic knife at her shoulder was found. This was later put on display at Luton Museum and Art Gallery.

Other excavations throughout the 1920s revealed over 90 skeletons from various periods. For instance, in Saxon times about 30 bodies were buried there with their hands apparently still tied behind their backs. Gallows were set up on the northernmost barrow in medieval times and some of the people hanged there were also buried there.

Witch lore has also been connected with the barrows, as in the trial of Elizabeth Pratt of Dunstable in 1667. She was arrested whilst meeting with three other women, plotting to bewitch the children of Thomas Heyward.