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.
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 therefore considered worthy of
protection. The significance of both barrows is considerably enhanced by
their close proximity.
Details
The monument includes a long barrow and adjacent bowl barrow, surviving as low
earthworks, set just below the crest of a ridge and across an east-facing
slope. A former chalk pit has damaged part of the central area of the long
barrow mound which is orientated NE-SW and tapers in plan with the broader end
facing NE. The mound is 71m long by 18.5m wide at the NE end and 12.5m wide
at the SW end. It stands to a height of between 0.5m and 1.1m, the higher end
facing NE. Flanking quarry ditches run parallel to the east and west sides of
the mound surviving to a width of 7.5m and visible as shallow earthwork
features. Separating the ditches from the mound are berms 3m wide.
A bowl barrow is situated 17m west of the long barrow. The mound has a
maximum diameter of 25m and survives to a height of 0.5m. A ditch, visible on
aerial photographs, encircles the mound and survives to a width of c.3m. An
iron implement, possibly a sword, is believed to have been ploughed out of one
of the mounds c.1918. This has since been lost but may have come from an
early medieval secondary burial.
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.