Lyneham long barrow and standing stone, 480m north east of Hill Barn

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.

Despite the barrow mound having been reduced by cultivation, Lyneham long barrow survives as a clearly visible earthwork. It is known from part excavation to contain archaeological and environmental evidence relating to its construction and the landscape in which it was built.

Details

The monument includes a Neolithic long barrow and a standing stone. The monument is situated c.300m south west of a hillfort known as the Roundabout, which is the subject of a separate scheduling. The barrow and stone are aligned south west-north east along a ridge which gives them a dominant position within the local landscape, overlooking valleys to the north west and south east. The long barrow mound measures 32m in length and stands up to 1.75m high at its 19m wide north east end. At its tail or south west end it tapers away to ground level and measures just 4m wide. In 1894 a part excavation located two chambers on the south east side of the mound and at least one of these contained bone fragments, pottery and charcoal. Also found were two Anglo-Saxon burials which had been cut into the top of the existing mound. Unusually, there was no evidence of flanking quarry ditches which are commonly found either side of long barrow mounds. Immediately north east, at a distance of 9m from the barrow mound, stands a single monolith which was broken in 1923 but reset in its original location in 1924. This stands 1.8m high and measures 1.8m wide and 0.6m thick. There is no surviving evidence of other standing stones in the area and it is probable that the mound originally extended a further 9m to the location of the stone where a facade of standing stones would have stood.

MAP EXTRACT The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract.

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

28144

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

Other
PRN 2275, C.A.O., LYNEHAM LONG BARROW, (1993)

End of official list entry

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