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FIFTH SERIES.—VOL. VI, NO. XXIII. JULY 1889. EXPLORATIONS UPON THE OLD FIELD NEAR LUDLOW, DECEMBER 1884. BY CHARLES FORTEY, ESQ. (Reprinted from the Transactions of the Shropshire Archaeological and Natural History Society, by permission of the Council and the Author.) Situated some two miles to the north-west of Ludlow, and close to the Bromfield Station of the Shrewsbury and Hereford Railway, is the Race-Course, or " Old Field" as it has been called from time immemorial. This is a large, open piece of rough pasturage of about 120 acres in extent, and it is conjectured that it may have derived its appellation of the " Old Field" from the fact that there are within its area grouped together several of those ancient sepulchral mounds known as barrows or tumuli. These, for the most part, lie in a nearly straight line, and parallel with the road leading from Ludlow to Stanton Lacy. But another of them, and this the largest,1 stands somewhat apart from the rest, upon a rise of ground commanding an extensive view of the surrounding country. This is popularly known as " Robin Hood's Butt", or the " Butt Tump", and upon it has flourished, until quite recently, a fine sycamore-tree, which has, however, from some cause, 1 This tumulus is 90 ft. in diameter by 14 ft. deep. 5th ser., vol. vi. 13