The Six Hills are a collection of

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

barrows situated alongside the old Great North Road on Six Hills Common in Stevenage, Hertfordshire,

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. They are classed as a

Scheduled Ancient Monument In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a nationally important archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change. The various pieces of legislation that legally protect heritage assets from damage and d ...

and are protected by law. They form the largest surviving Roman barrow group in England. Beside their historical significance, they lend their name to an important thoroughfare in the town (Six Hills Way) and are a local landmark.

History

For almost two thousand years, travellers along the Roman road that eventually became the Great North Road have passed these six large mounds. Their origin and purpose has been the subject of much speculation. Local legend holds that they were the work of the

Devil A devil is the personification of evil as it is conceived in various cultures and religious traditions. It is seen as the objectification of a hostile and destructive force. Jeffrey Burton Russell states that the different conceptions of ...

, who, sitting one day looking down on the Great North Road, began to amuse himself by heaving clods of earth at the passers-by. He missed six times and in a temper threw a seventh clod over his shoulder, hitting the spire of Graveley church and knocking it askew. The spire is crooked to this day. The holes in Whomerley Wood show where the Devil dug out his missiles, and the six failed shots lie in a line alongside the road and form the Six Hills. The Six Hills are almost certainly Roman burial mounds, dating from about 100 A.D., and probably mark the cremated remains of a wealthy local family. The ashes would have been placed in a container along with objects for use in the next world. No recent scientific archaeological excavation has been carried out on the Hills, but they have all been dug into in the past. These early investigations found only "...a few pieces of wood and a piece of iron...", which were dismissed at the time, but probably were the remains of the original burials. Other reports of damage include the farmer who was carting soil away from the Hills in 1750, and an attempted widening of the Great North Road in about 1820. Over the years, the Hills have all lost over in height. The grass around the burial mounds is of considerable age. It includes species such as bird's-foot trefoil,

mouse-ear hawkweed ''Pilosella officinarum'' ( synonym ''Hieracium pilosella''), known as mouse-ear hawkweed, is a yellow-flowered species of flowering plant in the daisy family Asteraceae, native to Europe and northern Asia. It produces single, lemon-coloured infl ...

harebell ''Campanula rotundifolia'', the harebell, Scottish bluebell, or bluebell of Scotland, is a species of flowering plant in the bellflower family Campanulaceae. This herbaceous perennial is found throughout the temperate regions of the northern hemi ...

whitlow grass ''Draba'' is a large genus of flowering plants in the family Brassicaceae, commonly known as whitlow-grasses (though they are not related to the true grasses). Species There are over 400 species: *'' Draba abajoensis'' Windham & Al-Shehbaz *'' ...

, and

slender clover ''Trifolium gracilentum'' is a species of clover known by the common names pinpoint clover and slender clover. It is native to western North America including the west coast of the United States and northwestern Mexico, where it grows in many ty ...

, which are not found in the more modern grasslands nearby.

External links

The Megalithic PortalHistoric England
{{coord, 51.897945, -0.203033, type:landmark_region:GB_scale:1000000, display=title History of Hertfordshire Roman religious sites in England Roman sites in Hertfordshire Archaeological sites in Hertfordshire Stevenage Scheduled monuments in Hertfordshire