Long barrow 500m west of Croft Farm

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 important concentrations of monuments of this type in the country. This example is regarded as important as it survives well and, with no evidence of formal excavation, the site has considerable archaeological potential.

Details

The monument includes a long barrow situated just below the crest of a gentle north-east facing slope. It survives as a low earthwork in an area of permanent grassland close to the Porton Ranges. The barrow mound is orientated ESE-WNW and is ovoid in plan with the broader end facing east. The barrow mound is 35m long, 27m wide at the east end and 21.5m wide at the west end. It survives to a height of 0.6m. Flanking the barrow mound to the north and south are quarry ditches which show as areas of improved grass cover and darker earth. These are contiguous to the mound and survive to a length of 28m and a width of 6m.

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:

12101

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

Books and journals
Smith, I F, Long Barrows in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, (1979)

End of official list entry

All text content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0 , except where otherwise stated. Any supplied maps are © Crown Copyright [and database rights] 2026 OS AC0000815036 and may not be reproduced without permission.