The churchyard features a prehistoric round barrow which was excavated in 1885 by Henry Cunnington who identified the primary cremated burial as Bronze Age (c. 2500-800 BC). A geophysical survey in 2013 located segments the circular ditch associated with the construction of this bermed barrow which is thought to be Early Bronze Age. Within the barrow Cunnington also discovered a single a single Anglo-Saxon coffin burial (c. 600-1000 AD) that recent expert assessment suggests is a rare example of an early Christian conversion from paganism. The church itself and the mound appear to stand on an elongated platform which some sources believe to be an earthwork feature that, if it runs beneath the Bronze Age barrow, is likely to date from the Neolithic period (c. 4000-2500 BC).
The medieval village of Ogbourne St Andrew was a manorial estate donated to the abbey of Bec in Normandy in the 12 thC. In the 15th Century it was acquired by King’s College, Cambridge, who retained the land and the village until 1927. The buried medieaval agricultural complex to the west of the church has been excavated by the History Group and Cranfield Forensic Institute. Its date has not yet been determined.
This interpretation board has been designed by Ogbourne St Andrew History Group and funded by the North Wessex Downs Landscape Trust, through its Sustainable Development Fund, with a very generous grant. It was unveiled in May 2019.
The Trust's mission is to promote wider awareness and engagement with this Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, so that future generations can visit, live and work there while protecting and enhancing the environment that makes it so outstanding. For more information please visit the Trust's website, http://www.nwd-landscapetrust.org.uk
Following a brief introduction by the History Group chairman, the Chairman of the North Wessex Downs Development Trust, Donald Sherlock, formally unveiled the interpretation board to 35 parishoners and members of the History Group on Saturday May 4th.