Tingle Stone long barrow

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 Tingle Stone long barrow survives well and will contain archaeological and environmental evidence relating to the monument and the landscape in which it was constructed. The occurrence of the standing stone on the mound is unusual. This barrow is a good example representing a group of long barrows commonly referred to as the Cotswold Severn group, named after the area in which they occur. It is one of very few examples of this group not to have been excavated.

Details

The monument includes a long barrow known as the Tingle Stone situated in the Cotswold Hills below the crest of a ridge overlooking a valley to the south. The barrow has a mound composed of small stones orientated north-south with maximum dimensions of 40m in length, 20m in width and a maximum height of c.2m. This is flanked on each side by a ditch from which material was quarried during the construction of the monument. These have become infilled over the years, but survive as buried features c.5m wide. The site is named after the standing stone which is situated towards the northern end of the monument. This stone is a block of oolitic limestone orientated north-south with a maximum height of 1.5m above ground level and dimensions of 0.6m by 0.3m. There are reports of coins having been recovered from the site of the barrow prior to 1789, although there are no records of an excavation. The long barrow represents one of at least three long barrows which occur as a dispersed group in the vicinity.

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:

22883

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

Other
Mention finds from the site,
View of site,
Mention the name of the site,

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