Long barrow 125m north-west of Waters Down 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, despite localised damage, it survives comparatively well and, with no evidence of formal excavation, the site has considerable archaeological potential.

Details

The monument includes a long barrow, surviving as a shallow earthwork, conspicuously sited along the edge of a ridge above scarps falling steeply to the south-east and gently to the north-west. The east end of the mound has been truncated by a metalled road and levelled verge. The barrow mound is orientated NE-SW and tapers slightly in plan with the broad end facing NE. It survives to a length of 42m and is 15m wide. It reaches a maximum height of 1.4m against the field boundary. Flanking quarry ditches run parallel to the NW and SE of the mound and survive to a width of between 5m and 9m. Both are visible as shallow earthworks and areas of darker soil.

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:

12109

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

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

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