Giants' Hill III, a Neolithic long barrow 750m north-west of Skendleby Lodge Farm

Summary

A Neolithic long barrow 750m north-west of Skendleby Lodge Farm.

Reasons for Designation

Giants’ Hill III, a Neolithic long barrow 750m north-west of Skendleby Lodge Farm is scheduled for the following principal reasons:

* Survival: as a Neolithic long barrow visible as clearly defined cropmarks and soil marks on aerial photography;

* Potential: for the buried 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 Neolithic, 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 us insights into the lives and deaths of early prehistoric communities in this country;

* Group value: for its close proximity to other contemporary or spatially-related scheduled monuments, in particular the other scheduled long barrows in the Giants’ Hills group, including Giants’ Hill I (NHLE 1014832, approximately 150m to the south-east), Giant’s Hill II (approximately 150m to the south), and a long barrow and two associated round barrows (NHLE 1013902, approximately 430m to the north-west).

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 crop marks 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 cropmark remains of a Neolithic long barrow known as Giants’ Hill III were identified from aerial photographs taken in 1995 as part of the National Mapping Programme (NMP). The ‘Neolithic long barrow 750m north west of Lodge Farm: also known as Giants Hills III’ was scheduled on 19 February 1996. The long barrow was included in D Jones’ long barrow and enclosure analysis published in 1998. Recent aerial photography and geophysical survey (magnetometry and resistivity) carried out as part of the Lincolnshire Long Barrows project (2018) have provided greater understanding and accuracy in the identification and location of the long barrow.

Details

PRINCIPAL ELEMENTS: The cropmark remains of a Neolithic long barrow, known as Giants’ Hill III, centred at TF 4278 7126. The barrow is situated around 77m above sea level on the eastern side of the valley of a tributary of the River Lymn, 750m north-west of Skendleby Lodge Farm, on the boundary between two fields.

DESCRIPTION: Although the monument cannot be seen on the ground it is visible as a cropmark on aerial photographs, and its presence and location has been confirmed by geophysical survey. The monument represents the buried remains of an incomplete elongated ditched enclosure, aligned south-east to north-west, measuring approximately 89m long by 18m wide. A modern hedge and track run along the long axis of the barrow and only a small hint of the barrow ditch can be seen to the south of this boundary on aerial photographs taken in 1986. There is no apparent earthwork trace of a barrow mound, and no earthworks are visible at ground level.

This ditch form is considered to represent a particular form of Lincolnshire long barrow, which would not have had a large earthen mound, the ditch delineating an area set aside for funerary activities, including the exposure of human remains. Valuable archaeological deposits will be preserved, on the buried ground surface and in the fills of the ditch. These will provide rare information concerning the dating and construction of the monument and the sequence of mortuary practices at the site. The same deposits may also retain environmental evidence illustrating the nature of the contemporary landscape in which the monument was set.

The monument lies in close proximity to three other Neolithic long barrows which together form the Giants’ Hills group. The scheduled remains of Giants’ Hill I (NHLE 1014832) lie approximately 150m south-east of Giants’ Hill III. The remains of Giants’ Hill II (also scheduled) lie approximately 150m south of Giants Hill I. A further scheduled long barrow (NHLE 1013902) lies around 430m north-west of Giants’ Hill III, and forms part of the Giants’ Hills group. The Bluestone Heath Road, which is thought to have originated as a prehistoric ridgeway, is aligned north-west to south-east about 150m north of Giants’ Hill III.

EXTENT OF SCHEDULING: The scheduled area is marked on the attached map and includes a 5m buffer zone which is considered necessary for the support and preservation of the monument.

EXCLUSIONS: Any fences and fenceposts are excluded from the scheduling, although the ground beneath them is included.

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

27872

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

Books and journals
Last, J, Beyond the Grave, New Perspectives on Barrows, (2007)
Jones, D, Long Barrows and Neolithic Elongated Enclosures in Lincolnshire: An Analysis of the Air Photographic Evidence. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 64, 1998, pp83-114, (1998)
Field, D, Earthen Long Barrows, The Earliest Monuments in the British Isles, (2006)
Woodward, A, British Barrows A Matter of Life and Death, (2000)

Websites
Lincolnshire Heritage Explorer, Monument record MLI42746 – Giants’ Hill 3, accessed 12 February 2025 from https://heritage-explorer.lincolnshire.gov.uk/Monument/MLI42746

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