Reasons for Designation
Chambered tombs are funerary monuments constructed and used during the Early and Middle Neolithic periods (3400-2400 BC). They comprise linear mounds of stone covering one or more stone-lined burial chambers. With other types of long barrow they form the burial places of Britain's early farming communities and, as such, are amongst the oldest field monuments surviving visibly within the present landscape. Where investigated, chambered tombs appear to have been used for communal burial, often with only parts of the human remains having been selected for interment. The number of burials placed within the tombs suggests they were used over a considerable period of time and that they were important ritual sites for local communities. Some 300 chambered tombs are recorded in England. As one of the few types of Neolithic structure to survive as upstanding monuments, and due to their rarity, their considerable age and longevity as a monument type, all chambered tombs are considered to be nationally important. Despite reduction in the height of the mound through past cultivation, the chambered tomb 900m south west of Manor Farm will retain archaeological and environmental evidence relating to its construction, function, longevity, territorial significance, social organisation, ritual and funerary practices and overall landscape context.
Details
The monument includes a chambered tomb, situated on the summit of a prominent spur leading south east from Eggardon Hill, at the head of a number of steep dry valleys in an area called Two Gates. The chambered tomb survives as largely buried structures and deposits, with the exception of two large visible upright earthfast parallel, but slightly staggered stones which form part of a chamber. One stone is approximately 1.8m long, 1.2m high and 0.3m thick, the second is 1.9m long, 1m high and 0.4m thick. The chamber is generally interpreted as being part of a long mound.
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
Legacy System number:
DO 33
Legacy System:
RSM - OCN
End of official list entry
