Neolithic long barrow 575m WSW of Manor Warren Farm

Summary

Neolithic long barrow surviving as a cropmark, a soilmark and a shallow earthwork.

Reasons for Designation

The long barrow 575m west-south-west of Manor Warren Farm is scheduled for the following principal reasons:

* Survival: the long barrow has been confirmed to survive as buried remains from geophysical survey and is visible as a clearly defined crop mark;

* Potential: for the buried archaeological deposits which retain considerable potential to provide evidence relating to social organisation and demographics, cultural associations, human development, disease, diet, and death rituals. Buried environmental evidence can also inform us about the landscape in which the barrows were constructed;

* Period: as one of very few monument types dating to the early prehistoric, it is highly representative of the period;

* Rarity: as an example of a monument type which is rare nationally and one of very few monument types to offer insight into the lives and deaths of early prehistoric communities in this country;

* Group value: as one of a number of similar monuments associated with the valley of the River Bain and with the Bluestone Heath Road which is thought to have originated as a prehistoric trackway. The frequency of these monuments has wider implications for the study of Neolithic demography and settlement patterns in the region. The nearest spatially related scheduled monuments are the Neolithic long barrow and Bronze Age bowl barrow 210m to the SSW (NHLE 1015772); and 1km to the north the long barrow, three Bronze Age bowl barrows and rectangular enclosure (NHLE 1018892).

History

Long barrows and chambered tombs are the main forms of Neolithic funerary monument, constructed from before 3800 BC with new monuments continuing to be built throughout the 4th millennium BC. Where they are precisely dated it appears their primary use for burial rarely lasted longer than about 100 years. Generally comprising long, linear earthen mounds or stone cairns, often flanked by ditches, they can appear as distinctive features in the landscape. They measure up to about 100m in length, 35m in width and 4m in height, and are sometimes trapezoidal or oval in plan. Earthen long barrows are found mostly in southern and eastern England and are usually unchambered, although some examples have been found to contain timber mortuary structures. Regional variation in construction is generally a reflection of locally available resources. Megalithic or stone ,chambered tombs are most common in Scotland and Wales, but are also found in those parts of England with ready access to the large stones and boulders from which they are constructed, especially the Cotswolds, the South-West and Kent. There are around 540 long barrows recorded nationally.

Long barrows of the Lincolnshire Wolds have been identified as a distinct regional grouping of monuments in which the flanking ditches are continued around the ends of the barrow mound, either continuously or broken by a single causeway towards one end. A small number survive as earthworks but the majority are known from cropmarks (an area of enhanced crop growth caused by higher moisture levels retained by the fills of underlying archaeological features) and soil marks where no or very low mounds are evident on the surface. Not all Lincolnshire long barrows had mounds and our current understanding of Neolithic mortuary practices in this part of the country is that the large barrow mound was in fact the final phase of construction which was not reached by all monuments. Previously many of the sites where only the ditched enclosure is known have been interpreted as a barrow where the mound has been degraded or removed by subsequent agricultural activity. In some cases the ditched enclosure (mortuary enclosure) represents a monument which never developed a mound.

The Neolithic long barrow 575m west-south-west of Manor Warren Farm was first scheduled on 7 February 1996. The barrow mound is visible as a very shallow earthwork on digital elevation models derived from 2008 2m gridded height data and from the Structure from Motion of 2016 specialist oblique photography.

Details

Principal elements: the monument includes the buried remains of a Neolithic long barrow located approximately 115m above sea level, near to the crest on the eastern valley slope of a tributary of the River Bain. It is situated in an area of arable land known as Heath Road Field, 575m WSW of Manor Warren Farm, Welton le Wold, and 220m north-east of the junction of A157 and the Bluestone Heath Road.

Description: the long barrow cannot be seen on the ground but is visible as cropmarks and soilmarks on air photographs, and as a shallow earthwork on digital elevation models, centred at TF 2590 8704. The barrow is defined by an oval ditched enclosure orientated west to east with dimensions measuring 35.5m by 22.5m. The ditch has slightly convex sides and rounded ends, and its form is thought to represent a simpler type of this class of monument in which the ditched enclosure set aside for mortuary activities would not have been elaborated by the construction of a large earthen mound. The remains of structures associated with these activities will survive as buried features.

What has been previously interpreted as an appended later round barrow appears to be an extension of the long barrow to the east, adding a further 12m to the length. The barrow mound is visible as a very shallow earthwork on digital elevation models derived from 2008 2m gridded height data and from the Structure from Motion of 2016 specialist oblique photography.

Although the long barrow has been degraded by ploughing, it will retain valuable archaeological and environmental evidence on, and in, the buried ground surface and within the fills of the encircling ditch. These deposits will provide rare information concerning the barrow's dating and construction and the sequence of mortuary ritual at the site, and will illustrate the nature of the landscape in which the monument was set. The long barrow is one of a number of similar monuments associated with the valley of the River Bain and with the Bluestone Heath Road which is thought to have originated as a prehistoric trackway. These associations indicate the ritual significance of this location and pose wider questions concerning riverine and land communications, and settlement patterns during the prehistoric period.

Another Neolithic long barrow and Bronze Age bowl barrow lies 210m to the SSW (NHLE 1015772); and 1km to the north a long barrow is scheduled along with three Bronze Age bowl barrows and a rectangular enclosure (NHLE 1018892).

Extent of Scheduling: the site of the monument includes a 5m 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:

27892

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

Books and journals
Field, D, Earthen Long Barrows, The Earliest Monuments in the British Isles, (2006)
Woodward, A, British Barrows A Matter of Life and Death, (2000)
Last, J, Beyond the Grave, New Perspectives on Barrows, (2007)

Other
Jones, D. 1998 ‘Long Barrows and Neolithic Elongated Enclosures in Lincolnshire: An Analysis of the Air Photographic Evidence.’ Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 64, 1998, pp. 83-114
Bonnor, L D, Griffiths, D W, Skitter to Hatton 4050mm diameter pipeline (1993)
Oblique monochrome photograph, Everson, P, 2942/42 (1980)

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