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Mortuary enclosure 1200m north-west of Octagon Farm: part of a Neolithic and Bronze Age mortuary complex

Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places

Overview

Heritage Category:: Scheduled Monument
List Entry Number:: 1007326
Date first listed:: 18-May-1993

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Official list entry

Heritage Category:: Scheduled Monument
List Entry Number:: 1007326
Date first listed:: 18-May-1993

Location

The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.

District:: Bedford (Unitary Authority)
Parish:: Non Civil Parish
National Grid Reference:: TL 08509 50208

Reasons for Designation

Neolithic and Bronze Age mortuary complexes date to the period between c4000 and c700 BC. Typically they set within topographically defined areas, perhaps between rivers or valleys, and sometimes their topographical boundaries are emphasised by ditch systems. Within the defined area such complexes comprise closely spaced groups of features of different types, later types of feature often being superimposed on earlier ones, indicating continuity of use over a long period of time. Features found on such sites include round barrows, which can take a variety of forms, of which bowl barrows are the most common. Such barrows were earthen or stone mounds covering a burial or group of burials. Such barrows were usually surrounded by a circular ditch from which material for the construction of the mound was obtained. These circular ditches are often visible through aerial photography when the mound no longer shows as an earthwork and are frequently classified as 'ring-ditches'. Burials on such sites, however, are not confined to the barrows and 'flat burials' have often been discovered in between them. Also found on such sites are a variety of enclosures, sometimes referred to as mortuary enclosures. These are often square or rectangular in plan but round-ended and even sub-circular examples are known. They are usually defined by a bank and external ditch and sometimes have opposed entrances. Their original function is uncertain but it is presumed that they were employed in the burial ritual and in subsequent commemorations. Neolithic and Bronze Age mortuary complexes often also include other classes of ceremonial monuments such as cursuses (which were elongated embanked enclosures which probably served as ceremonial routeways) and henges (which were major circular earthworks which probably served as gathering places). A small number of such complexes have individual components surviving as earthworks but the majority are cropmark sites which are known from aerial photography and which survive only as buried features below the ploughsoil. They provide important evidence for the diversity of beliefs and social organisation amongst Early Prehistoric communities and all examples where significant archaeological deposits remain are considered to be of national importance. The enclosure 1200m north-west of Octagon Farm will retain archaeological information and environmental evidence relating to the construction of the monument and to the landscape in which it was built. Its association with the main group of mortuary monuments 200m to the south-east will provide additional information regarding the continuity and evolution of funerary practices in this area during the Prehistoric period.

Details

The monument includes a rectangular enclosure initially recorded from aerial photographs and situated between the River Great Ouse and the Elstow Brook, south-east of Bedford. The monument is visible on aerial photographs as a subrectangular-shaped enclosure surrounded by a ditch which measures 30m east- west by 30m north-south.

MAP EXTRACT The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract. It includes a 5 metre boundary around the archaeological features, considered to be essential for the monument's support and preservation.

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:: 20750
Legacy System:: RSM

Legal

This monument is scheduled under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979 as amended as it appears to the Secretary of State to be of national importance. This entry is a copy, the original is held by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.