B is for Barrow

The South-west and Central England is covered in these, but they are to be found elsewhere as well, I won't write much about them as A) It would be silly to pretend I am some sort of expert on the subject when I'm not!...and B) If you click on them the original cards should be readable enough.

These were photographed through the windows of the currently closed Newbury Museum and I don't know the name/s of the modeller or the author of the information cards, if someone does; let me know and they can be credited here.

What I loved about them was the 'old-school' feel of the dioramas and the fact that I could see in my minds-eye - lots of unpainted Airfix Ancient Britons having a scrap over ownership of the barrows or the land they stand on!

They seem to be made of plaster and painted with matt emulsions, and are arranged as three tiles to fit together in the chronological order of the development of barrow construction/architecture.

Wayland's Smithy - which is mentioned in the card text - is one Mim and I walked too one day, it's also not far from an Ancient Hill Fort and the Uffington White Horse, so all three can be done in a few hours, well worth the effort.

The other thing that caught my eye when passing was that the landscaping has been enhanced with two mint Britains shrubs (albeit with some green emulsion spattered on their lower reaches!), along with two similar Britains trees (Scots Pine, Larch or Birch?) and a full set of Merit Fir Trees, nicely dating these models to the mid-1960's at the latest - if that was all the modeller could find in his local hobby store?!