Long barrow and adjacent bowl barrow 500m south-west of Twinley Manor

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.

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

12105

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

Books and journals
Smith, I F, Long Barrows in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, (1979)
Grinsell, L V, Proceedings of the Hampshire Field Club in Hampshire Barrows, (1939)

Other
Title: Map of Hampshire Source Date: 1759 Author: Publisher: Surveyor:

End of official list entry

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