The first published record that commented on the existence of stones at the site was in 1719, although they would only be described as the relics of a prehistoric survival in print in 1779, when it was erroneously described as a stone circle and compared to Stonehenge. When the road was widened and deepened in 1827, two of the stones from the revetment curb were removed and deposited in the corner of the wood to the south of the barrow. The site was excavated circa 1845 by a local vicar, the Reverend Lambert Larking, who allegedly found some evidence of ceramics; it has also been asserted, although not proven, that he discovered human bones at the site. When Thomas Wright explored it c.1850, he was aided by a local man who enthusiastically believed that a crock of gold would be buried there, something that Leslie Grinsell deemed to be part of local folklore.