Six Hills Burial Mounds

Along a busy section of the historic Great North Road in the post-war town of Stevenage sits a series of six Roman burial mounds, also known as barrows or tumuli.

Believed to originally have been constructed around 100AD, they likely contain the remains and possessions of a wealthy family. Over the years the hills have been subject to much disturbance - having been dug into several times and had soil removed for use elsewhere, which has resulted in the mounds losing several feet of height over time. Despite this, they have survived remarkably well and are actually the largest group of Roman barrows still standing in England in the present day.

For romantics and lovers of a good story, a more fanciful alternative version of the barrows’ history goes as thus: the devil was seeking to amuse himself one day by throwing clumps of earth over his shoulder, which upon landing became the six mounds.

An additional detail of the legend is that a mistakenly overzealous throw hit the spire of a local church in the nearby village of Graveley, leaving it askew to this day.