Long barrow and two bowl barrows, 400m north of Chattis Hill House

Reasons for Designation

Long barrows were constructed as earthen or drystone mounds with flanking ditches and acted as funerary monuments during the early neolithic period (3000-2400bc). Where investigated, long barrows appear to have been used for communal burial, often with only partial human remains selected for interment. 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, unless very severely damaged, are considered to be nationally important. Bowl barrows, the most numerous form of round barrow, are funerary monuments dating from the late Neolithic period to the late Bronze Age, with most examples belonging to the period 2400-1500bc. They were constructed as earthen or rubble mounds, sometimes ditched, which covered single or multiple burials. There are over 10,000 surviving bowl barrows recorded nationally. They are particularly representative of their period and a substantial proportion of surviving examples are considered worthy of protection. The significance of both the long barrow and the bowl barrows in enhanced considerably due to their close proximity.

Details

The monument includes a long barrow and two bowl barrows, all surviving as earthworks and inconspicuously sited across a gentle south-facing slope on a low spur. The long barrow is rectangular in plan and orientated east-west. It survives to a length of 51m, is 16m wide and 0.3m high. Flanking quarry ditches, surviving as buried features, run parallel and adjacent to the mound on its north and south sides. These survive to an average width of 5m. The site was investigated in the late 19th century, producing contracted skeletons and a secondary cremation. At a distance of c.150m south-east of the long barrow are two bowl barrows, in close proximity to each other and orientated east-west. The western of the two mounds has a diameter of c.20m and the eastern mound a diameter of 22m. Both are 1m high. Ditches c.5m wide surround each of the mounds, possibly converging in the area between them. Although no longer visible as earthwork features, these survive below-ground and can be defined by rings of darker earth surrounding the mounds.

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:

12116

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

Books and journals
Smith, I F, Long Barrows in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, (1979), 12-13
Godwin, G N, Hampshire Notes and Queries in Hampshire Field Club: Meeting at Houghton, Broughton..., Vol. ix, (1898), 49-56

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