Long barrow 700m north-west of Tenantry 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 significant concentrations of monuments of this type in the country. This example is regarded as important as, despite some damage, it survives well, and is one of several long barrows in the immediate area.

Details

The monument includes a long barrow, inconspicuously sited on a flat spur, and currently under cultivation. The barrow mound is orientated SSE-NNW and tapers slightly in plan, with the broader end to the south where there appears to be a concentration of flint nodules. The mound is 60m long, 25m wide and rises to a height of 0.8m at either end. Near the centre of the mound, a slight depression separates the two peaks. Flanking quarry ditches run parallel to the mound on the east and west sides. These are visible as shallow earthwork features and areas of darker earth. They survive to a width of 12.5m. The site is visible from a second long barrow on Little Toyd Down 700m to the NW and another 1km to the NE.

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:

12096

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.