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 examples of
long barrows and long cairns, their counterparts in the uplands, are recorded
nationally. 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.
Details
The monument includes a long barrow, conspicuously sited on Toyd Down and
well preserved under rough grassland at a junction of three trackways. The
mound, orientated south east-north west, is now tapered in plan with the
broader end facing south east. The shape of the tapered end is due, in part,
to disturbance of the south side where a terrace up to 3m wide has been cut
along the length of the mound. The mound is 95m long and varies in width
between 15m at the south east end and 11m at the west end. It survives to a
height of 1.8m at the south east end of the mound. The mound is flanked by two
ditches from which the mound material was quarried. These have been infilled
over the years but survive as buried features up to a width of 10m, one under
arable cultivation south of the mound, one overlain by the trackway to the
north.
About 100m to the south east of Knap barrow is a second, well-preserved long
barrow known as Gran's Barrow. A third long barrow, Duck's Nest, is visible to
the north.
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
Legacy System number:
12087
Legacy System:
RSM
Sources
Books and journals
Legal
This monument is scheduled under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979 as amended as it appears to the Secretary of State to be of national importance. This entry is a copy, the original is held by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.
End of official list entry
