Long barrow 600m east north east of Brimble Pit Pool

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.

Much of the long barrow 600m east north east of Brimble Pit Pool survives, despite localised disturbance caused by previous excavations, and contains archaeological and environmental evidence relating both to the monument and the landscape in which it was constructed. The importance of the monument is enhanced by its rarity in an area which otherwise supports a concentration of later burial monuments.

Details

The monument includes a long barrow orientated northwest to southeast and situated on level ground 600m east north east of Brimble Pit Pool. The barrow mound is 30m long by 11m wide and c.2.5m high at its highest point. Although no longer visible at ground level two parallel ditches, from which material was quarried during the construction of the monument, lie on either side of the mound to the northeast and southwest. These ditches have become infilled over the years but survive as buried features c.3m wide. The barrow was partially excavated in 1816 by B M Skinner although no details are known. Following a contour survey of the mound in April 1928, the barrow was again partially excavated by E K Tratman and D Morton. A hearth with a central cist or stone box 56.4cm by 35.8cm in size was reported approximately 7.3m from the southeast end. This was thought to have contained a burial contemporary with the construction of the monument and possibly unburnt, accompanied by a burnt burial of which a few fragments remained. A pit 76cm in diameter and filled with stones was placed centrally in the barrow mound. Finds of two human molar teeth, some fragments of burnt bone, a piece of a human arm bone and a flint knife were reported lying slightly above the pit. A second hearth 1.5m by 1.8m was reported 4.6m from the northwest end. Finds of charcoal were associated with this feature. Structural details of the mound construction which were recorded by the excavation included remains of a stone revetment wall along the long sides of the barrow mound. The finds and photographic record of the later excavation were destroyed in World War II. A drystone wall lies over the quarry ditch on the southern side. The wall is excluded from the scheduling, however the ground beneath it 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:

13843

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

Books and journals
Dobson, E, Archaeology of Somerset, (1931), 59
Tratman, EK, Proceedings of the Univ of Bristol Speleological Society in Proceedings of the University of Bristol Speleological Society, (1972), 31-6
Tratman, EK, Proceedings of the Univ of Bristol Speleological Society in Proceedings of the University of Bristol Speleological Society, (1972), 32
Tratman, EK, Proceedings of the Univ of Bristol Speleological Society in Proceedings of the University of Bristol Speleological Society, Vol. Vol 3(1), (1927), 284-6
Grinsell, L, Proceedings of the Somerset Archaeology and Natural Hist Soc in Somerset Barrows Part II, Vol. Vol 115, (1971), 86

Other
MS 33468 folio 157 29-30.08.1816, Skinner, B M, MS 33468 folio 157 29-30.08.1816, (1816)

End of official list entry

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