Where did they bury those killed at the Battle of Roundway, on July 13, 1643?

The most obvious place is in a 10-acre chalk pit, on the north side of the old London to Bath coach road.

I have surveyed and researched this chalk pit over a four-year period. I believe it was first excavated in 1553, to provide material to build Bromham House, the home of the Bayntons. The house was burnt by Royalists in 1645, and was about a mile west of the chalk pit.

Bromham House was nearly as big as White Hall Palace, which stood on 24 acres.

In the chalk pit there are many grades of chalk, from Fuller’s earth to building materials. There were many large trenches, which would have been very convenient for 1,000 prisoners to cart the dead from the battlefield and bury them, with little effort.

There is one mound, which is 100 feet long and 50 feet wide. The bodies were placed in the gully, covered with chalk gravel, then 30 inches of fine soil.

On this mound there are 16 yew trees planted. Why did they plant the yew trees? To protect the dead. The same reason that yew trees are planted in church yards.

On the eastern area of the chalk pit, 60 yew trees have been planted. There is also one Irish yew.

One yew tree on the left hand side of the road going down Bagdon Hill is estimated to be 350 years old.

In 1924 Captain B H Cunnington did a dig in a chalk pit on the side of Bagdon Hill (now called Beacon Hill). The 10-acre chalk pit is a triple SSI. It is also recorded by myself on the Wiltshire Council Sites and Monuments Record SMR NOST96NE529, NGRST995865568.

Gordon P Hancock, Park View, Devizes.