Long barrow 300m south-east of Middlebarn 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 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.

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

12115

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

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