Long barrow 150m west of Churchill Copse in Wychwood Forest

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.

Despite partial excavation, the Churchill Copse long barrow survives well and will contain archaeological and environmental evidence relating to its construction and the landscape in which it was built.

Details

The monument includes a long barrow 150m west of Churchill Copse in Wychwood Forest. It is situated on a south-facing slope which overlooks a narrow, enclosed valley. The barrow mound is orientated east-west and measures 22m long by 14.5m wide and stands up to 1.6m high. The middle of the mound has been disturbed by an antiquarian excavation which has created a hollow depression 3m long and 2.5m wide. This has become partially infilled over the years. Either side of the barrow mound, but no longer visible at ground level, are a pair of flanking quarry ditches from which material was obtained during the construction of the mound. The southern ditch can be seen as an area of subsidence where it is crossed by a track from Hatching Hill to Churchill Copse. This ditch is c.4m wide and is separated from the edge of the mound by a 2m wide berm.

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:

21768

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

Books and journals
Benson, D, The Victoria History of the County of Oxfordshire: Volume II, (1907), 266a

Other
Title: 6" Ordnance Survey with monument notes added by hand Source Date: 1930 Author: Publisher: Surveyor: Private map from SMR
OXON PRN 1534, C.A.O., Long barrow in Churchill Copse, (1978)

End of official list entry

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