White Rake long barrow and bowl 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.

White Rake long barrow is an extremely rare survival of an undisturbed long barrow in which intact archaeological remains will survive. The later bowl barrow is also very well preserved and is an integral part of the monument. Together these barrows demonstrate the continued importance of the Neolithic burial focus and also changing burial practices during these two periods.

Details

White Rake is situated on the northern edge of Longstone Moor on the limestone plateau of Derbyshire. The monument includes both a Neolithic long barrow and a Bronze Age bowl barrow within a single constraint area which lies c.30m north of the rake. The bowl barrow is superimposed on the eastern end of the long barrow and comprises a roughly circular mound with a diameter of c.18m and a height of c.1m. The long barrow, which is orientated east to west, extends for 24m west of the bowl barrow so that the overall length of the monument is 42m. The exposed section of the long barrow ranges from c.12m wide at the east end to c.9m at the west end, and its height ranges from c.0.6m to 0.4m. There has been no recorded excavation of the monument which has been identified by its form and overall similarity to others of this kind.

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:

13358

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

Books and journals
Barnatt, J, The Peak District Barrow Survey (1989), (1989)
Barnatt, J, The Peak District Barrow Survey (1989), (1989)
Hart, C R, Searches for the E Neolithic: A Study Of Peakland Long Cairns, (1986)
Barnatt, J, Derbyshire Archaeological Journal in A Long Barrow on Longstone Moor, Derbyshire, Vol. 100, (1980), 17

End of official list entry

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