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 some damage, it
survives comparatively well and, with no evidence of formal excavation, has
considerable archaeological potential.
Details
The monument includes a long barrow, surviving as a low earthwork, situated on
the northern edge of a plateau. It is rectangular in plan and is orientated
ESE-WNW. The barrow mound survives to 58m long, 24m wide and a height of 1m
towards the centre of the monument. Flanking quarry ditches run parallel to
the north and south sides of the barrow mound. These are 12.5m wide and,
where visible as earthwork features, survive to a depth of 0.2m. Both ditches
survive as below-ground features and both are visible on the ground as areas
of darker soil.
Irregular spreads of chalky material around the mound, visible both on the
ground and on aerial photographs, suggest deliberate levelling of the mound at
some time in the past.
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.
