Summary
Long barrow 975m south west of Manor Farm.
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.
The long barrow 975m south west of Manor Farm survives well and its close association and relationship with the Dorset Cursus adds greatly to its significance. It will contain archaeological and environmental evidence relating to its construction, longevity, territorial significance, social organisation, funerary and ritual practices, relationship and relative chronology to other monuments and its overall landscape context.
History
See Details.
Details
This record was the subject of a minor enhancement on 15 December 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 spine of a low spur on a wide plateau within Salisbury Plantation. The long barrow survives as a tapering mound which measures 42m long, 15m wide to the north east, 12m wide to the south west and up to 2.4m high. The flanking ditches are just visible but preserved as largely buried features. The long barrow is closely associated with part of the north western bank of the Dorset Cursus although its alignment differs slightly. Speculation suggests the long barrow might pre-date the cursus or was built alongside an earlier phase of the cursus itself and became incorporated into the Cursus when the latter was enlarged, but this relationship is not known with certainty.
Further archaeological remains in the immediate vicinity are scheduled separately.
