Devil's Jumps, Bronze Age round barrow cemetery in Elsted and Treyford, England.
Devil's Jumps is a group of five Bronze Age burial mounds arranged in a straight line across open chalk downland in Elsted and Treyford, England. These are bell barrows, each one raised above the ground with a flat berm and a surrounding ditch that separates it from the surrounding grassland.
The mounds were built roughly 3500 to 4000 years ago, during a period when bell barrows were widely used for burial across southern England. Excavations carried out in the 19th century found human remains inside them, confirming that they served as graves.
The name of this site comes from local legend, which tells that the Devil leaped across the mounds while Thor threw stones at him. This kind of story was common in rural England as a way of explaining ancient earthworks that people could not otherwise account for.
The site lies on open downland with no shelter, so sturdy footwear is a good idea, particularly after rain when the ground turns soft and uneven. The mounds can be visited at any time of year and are reached on foot via nearby footpaths.
Although the five mounds look like a planned group, small differences in their size and construction suggest they were not all built at the same time. This means the site may have grown gradually over several generations rather than being laid out all at once.
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