Long barrow 350m south-west of Cornerpool 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 long barrows are recorded in England. 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 350m south-west of Cornerpool Farm survives comparatively well and contains archaeological and environmental information relating to the monument and the landscape in which it was constructed.

Details

The monument includes a chambered long barrow situated on level ground 350m south-west of Cornerpool Farm. The monument has a long mound which is orientated NNE-SSW and is c.37m long, c.15m wide and c.0.5m high. The mound is composed of small stones, and a burial chamber is situated at the northern end. The chamber, which is now collapsed, includes a fallen portal stone and three supporting stones which have slumped. This would have provided the main depository for the burials and will have been a prominent visual feature of the monument since its construction. Running parallel with the long axis of the mound are two side ditches from which material was quarried during the construction of the monument. The ditches are no longer visible at ground level as they have become infilled over the years, but they survive as buried features c.3m wide. Prehistoric artefacts, including a chert axe and bronze palstave, have been discovered in the proximity of the monument.

MAP EXTRACT The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract. It includes a 2 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:

22819

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

Other
Mention of Crawford's description, Mention of Crawford's description,
Suggestion that mound was levelled, Suggestion that mound was levelled,

End of official list entry

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