Longlow 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.

Longlow is the only long barrow recorded in Staffordshire. As such it lies outside the distinct regional groupings of this class of monument found in the Cotswolds, the downlands of Wessex, and the Wolds of Yorkshire and Lincolnshire. It does, however, lie within a small regional grouping located in the Peak District. Despite limited antiquarian investigations and some minor mutilation by mining and quarrying Longlow long barrow survives well. These investigations located human and faunal remains together with flint artefacts, and further evidence of interments and grave goods will exist within the long barrow and upon the old land surface. Additionally the monument is known to contain substantial evidence relating to its method of construction.

Details

The monument includes Longlow long barrow. The barrow mound is an earth and stone construction overlying large flat stone slabs inclined against an internal wall. The long barrow is located along the crest of a gently sloping ridge and is orientated NNE to SSW with its highest point at the NNE end. The mound has a total length of 207m and survives up to 1.5m high. It varies in width between 12m-21m with bulges at either end; that at the NNE end measuring 32m wide and up to 2.2m high, that at the SSW end being 20m wide and up to 1.7m high. At the northern end of the long barrow, on the western side, quarry pits are visible from which material used in the construction of the monument was extracted. These pits vary between 10m-17m wide and 0.1m-0.5m deep. Further infilled pits probably exist on other sides of the barrow. Limited antiquarian investigations have taken place at both end bulges and within the central part of the long barrow. Investigation of the NNE bulge located a central chamber of stone slabs with a paved floor. It measured 1.8m by 1.5m by 1.2m high and contained a total of at least 13 contracted inhumations of adults and children of both sexes. Animal bones and flint artefacts were also recovered from the chamber. Further fragmented finds of human and faunal remains and flint artefacts were located nearby as was a short length of drystone wall. Investigation at the centre of the SSW bulge located a length of drystone wall, 2.75m long and 0.9m high aligned WSW to ENE, and a row of broad flat stones set on end into the old land surface in a line 4.5m long and up to 0.6m high at right angles to the drystone wall. At the junction of these walls was a cremation. Investigation at three points along the length of the long barrow located a drystone wall along the spine of the mound. The wall was constructed of large stones and built almost to the full height of the mound. Flat stone slabs were found inclined against the wall and the whole was covered with earth and stones. Modern drystone walls, the post and wire fence running on the mound and a water tank located at the long barrow's southern end are excluded from the scheduling, although the ground beneath these features is included.

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:

22442

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

Books and journals
Carrington, , Reliquary, (1865)
Barnatt, J, The Peak District Barrow Survey (1989), (1989)
Bateman, , Ten Years Digging (1861), (1861), 131
Bateman, , Ten Years Digging (1861), (1861), 121
Bateman, , Ten Years Digging (1861), (1861), 144

Other
Bateman, Illustrations of Antiquity (Unpub volume of drawings), Sheffield City Museum
Bateman, Illustrations of Antiquity (Unpub volume of drawings), Sheffield City Museum
Carrington, Barrow Diggers (Unpub MS with letters and notes), 1848,
Carrington, Barrow Diggers (Unpub MS with letters and notes), 1848,
Carrington, Barrow Diggers (Unpub MS with letters and notes), 1848,
Bateman, Desc & Obs Further Discoveries in the Barrows of Derbyshire,
Bateman, Desc & Obs Further Discoveries in the Barrows of Derbyshire,

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