Obadiah's barrow is a Neolithic entrance grave, 22 ft in diameter and 2 ft in height. It is located on Gugh, one of six inhabited island in the Isles of Scilly. The grave is found on the southwestern side of Kittern Hill, the northernmost hill and highest point on the island. Kittern Hill is the site of several burial cairns, including five entrance graves. The largest entrance grave on Gugh is Obadiah's Barrow, also known as Obadiah's grave. Obadia's barrow consists of a predominately circular mound, approximately 33 ft in diameter and 4.92 ft high. The grave has a short passage leading to an inner chamber, which measures 17 ft long by 4.6 ft wide. The chamber's walls are 3.6 ft high, with stone slabs along the base. There are four visible covering slabs that lie crosswise across the top of the chamber, two have fallen and lie partly in the chamber. The chamber entrance is partially blocked by large edge-set stones.
History
The Isles of Scilly were originally settled during the Neolithic era, circa 2500 BC. Burial monuments on the islands range in date from the later Neolithic period to the Middle Bronze Age. Over eighty entrance graves have been recorded on the isles of Scilly. Entrance graves are distinguished by their burial chamber, typically constructed with edge-set slabs, coursed rubble walling or both, and roofed by large covering slabs. The chamber is usually accessible through an opening in the mound's stone outer edge. Excavations of entrance graves have generally uncovered cremation urns, pottery fragments and cremated and unburnt human bones. Obadiah's grave was excavated in 1901 by the British archaeologist, George Bonsor, who discovered a crouching male skeleton in the middle of the chamber and a Bronze Agecremation urn and several cremation urn fragments. Near the entrance to the chamber, Bonsor uncovered a bronze awl, more urn fragments and cremated and unburnt bones. The grave was named for Obadiah Hicks, a farmer who lived on St. Agnes at the time of the excavation. Bonsor lodged with Hicks and named the burial monument after him. Bonsor's surviving plans, drawings and sections of the grave have provided a very detailed record of the entrance grave's chamber and archaeological finds.
