Victor Strode Manley, in his Regional Survey Of Warminster, Volume Two (unpublished), compiled c.1930, noted:
Life Of Man ~ Barrow between Warminster Common and Shearwater.
On a sandy upland adjoining the [Bradley Road] Reservoir, and having Cannimore Valley at its north and Shearwater at its south – both places providing springs – reached from Warminster via Bell Hill and Botany Road, or Dry Hill, Crockerton, lies a burial mound known locally as “The Life of Man”. Whether this name is associated with any folklore or is the popular pronunciation of some Keltic place-name, I cannot discover.
At first it looks like a twin-barrow but a closer examination sees it has been a large barrow cut through at some time, perhaps in search of plunder. The site would allow signalling to and from most of the camps in the district.
A few yards further down the field is a circular black earth patch, the same size as the barrow. No ploughing can cause it to disappear.
Prehistoric – Life of Man ‘black patch’. The Keltic ceremonial notes “must have been kindled at some spot not very remote from the community whose hearth fires had been extinguished, probably a place where it could easily be seen by all. As a solemn act of ritual it required a locus consecratus . . . . “a circular precinct”. This may explain why some circles have no interment. Cf. Bridgwater November bonfire, which was one of the best in England, and until the roads were tarred, was burnt in the space in front of the Blake monument.