Summary
Long barrow called ‘The Toots’ on Selsley Common.
Reasons for Designation
Long barrows were constructed as earthen or drystone mounds with flanking ditches and acted as funerary monuments during the Early and Middle Neolithic periods (3400-2400 BC). They represent the burial places of Britain's early farming communities and, as such, are amongst the oldest field monuments surviving visibly in the present landscape. Where investigated, long barrows appear to have been used for communal burial, often with only parts of the human remains having been selected for interment. Certain sites provide evidence for several phases of funerary monument preceding the barrow and, consequently, it is probable that long barrows acted as important ritual sites for local communities over a considerable period of time. Some 500 examples of long barrows and long cairns, their counterparts in the uplands, are recorded nationally. As one of the few types of Neolithic structure to survive as earthworks, and due to their comparative rarity, their considerable age and their longevity as a monument type, all long barrows are considered to be nationally important.
Despite partial early excavation, the erection of a bench and visitor erosion, the long barrow called ‘The Toots’ on Selsley Common survives comparatively well and will contain archaeological and environmental evidence relating to its construction, longevity, territorial significance, social organisation, funerary and ritual practices and overall landscape context.
History
See Details.
Details
This record was the subject of a minor enhancement on 8 July 2015. The record has been generated from an "old county number" (OCN) scheduling record. These are monuments that were not reviewed under the Monuments Protection Programme and are some of our oldest designation records.
The monument includes a long barrow situated on the north western summit of an extremely prominent ridge forming the watershed between numerous tributaries to the Nailsworth Stream and River Frome. The long barrow survives as a roughly rectangular mound with an undulating profile which measures up to 73.1m long, 27.4m wide and 3.5m high. Aligned ENE to WSW it has been the subject of numerous partial early excavations leaving a profile resembling two smaller mounds and at least one excavation in 1880 produced part of a stone built chamber and an interment.
