Long barrow 700m south of Tidcombe

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 180 long barrows of Hampshire, Wiltshire and Dorset form the densest and one of the most significant concentrations of monuments of this type in the country. The barrow south of Tidcombe is important as, despite partial excavation in the 18th century, much of the monument survives comparatively well and has potential for the recovery of archaeological evidence for nature and duration of use of the monument and the environment within which it was constructed. The importance of the monument is enhanced by the fact that several other long barrows and additional evidence for contemporary settlement survive in the area. This illustrates the intensity with which this part of east Wiltshire was settled during the Neolithic period.

Details

The monument includes a long barrow set on the crest of a NW-facing slope in an area of undulating chalk downland. It survives as a substantial earthwork, broadly rectangular in plan and orientated north-south. The barrow mound is 54m long, 24m wide and varies in height between 3m at the north end and 4m at the chambered south end. The chamber has been partly excavated and consequently appears as a hollowed area containing four large sarsen blocks. A further hollow runs the length of the mound along the top of the monument. This may represent the earliest disturbance of the site which is believed to have been in the 18th century. Flanking the mound are ditches, from which material was quarried during the construction of the monument. These run parallel to the east and west sides of the mound. The eastern ditch survives to 8m wide and 0.5m deep. The western ditch has been largely infilled over the years but can still be traced on the surface as a low earthwork.

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:

12275

Legacy System:

RSM

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