Reasons for Designation
Long barrows were constructed as earthen or drystone mounds, generally with
flanking ditches. They acted as funerary monuments during the Early and Middle
Neolithic periods (3400-2400 BC), representing the burial places of Britain's
early farming communities, and as such are amongst the oldest field monuments
surviving 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 activities preceding the construction of the barrow mound,
including ditched enclosures containing structures related to various rituals
of burial. It is probable, therefore, that long barrows acted as important
spiritual sites for their local communities over considerable periods of time.
The long barrows of the Lincolnshire Wolds and their adjacent regions 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. More than 60
examples of this type of monument are known; a small number of these survive
as earthworks, but the great majority of sites are known as cropmarks and
soilmarks recorded on aerial photographs where no mound is evident at the
surface.
Not all Lincolnshire long barrows include mounds. Current limited
understanding of the processes of Neolithic mortuary ritual in Lincolnshire is
that the large barrow mound represents the final phase of construction which
was not reached by all mortuary monuments. Many of the sites where only the
ditched enclosure is known have been interpreted as representing monuments
which had fully evolved mounds, but in which the mound itself has been
degraded or removed by subsequent agricultural activity. In a minority of
cases, however, the ditched enclosure will represent a monument which never
developed a burial mound.
As a distinctive regional grouping of one of the few types of Neolithic
monuments known, these sites are of great value. They were all in use over a
great period of time and are thus highly representive of changing cultures of
the peoples who built and maintained them. All forms of long barrow on the
Lincolnshire Wolds and its adjacent regions are therefore considered to be of
national importance and all examples with significant surviving remains are
considered worthy of protection.
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 2400-1500 BC. They were constructed as
earthen or rubble mounds, sometimes ditched, which covered single or multiple
burials. They occur either in isolation or grouped as cemeteries and often
acted as a focus for burials in later periods. Often superficially similar,
although differing widely in size, they exhibit regional variations in form
and a diversity of burial practices. There are over 10,000 surviving bowl
barrows recorded nationally (many more have already been destroyed), occurrng
across most of lowland Britain. Often occupying prominent locations, they are
a major historical element in the modern landscape and their considerable
variation of form and longevity as a monument type provide imporant
information on the diversity of beliefs and social organisations amongst early
prehistoric communities. They are particularly representative of their period
and a substantial proportion of surviving examples are considered worthy of
protection.
Although the long barrow and bowl barrow north west of Warren Farm have been
denuded by ploughing, rare and valuable archaeological deposits will be
preserved in the buried ground surfaces and in the fills of the buried
ditches. These will provide information concerning the dating and
construction of the barrows and the sequence of mortuary practices at the
site. The same deposits will also retain environmental evidence illustrating
the nature of the landscape in which the barrows were set.
The area of buried ground surface between the two barrows will retain evidence
for ritual and funerary activities relating to the sites over a considerable
length of time, and may provide indications of the evolving nature of
religious beliefs during this period.
The close association of these barrows, together with a further long barrow
some 250m to the north east (SM27892), demonstrates the continuing ritual
sigificance of the area, while their proximity to the Bluestone Heath Road,
which follows the route of a prehistoric ridgeway, c.100m to the east, has
wider implications for the study of demography, communications and settlement
patterns from the Neolithic period into the Bronze Age.
Details
The monument includes the buried remains of a Neolithic long barrow and a
Bronze Age bowl barrow, situated below the summit of a plateau above the
source of the River Lud, some 630m north west of Warren Farm. Although the
barrow mounds have been reduced by ploughing and cannot now be seen on the
ground, the survival of their infilled and buried ditches is indicated by
cropmarks which are clearly visible from the air. The intervening area of
ground between the two barrows, which will contain evidence of ritual
activities associated with the construction and use of these barrows, is also
included in the scheduling. The long barrow appears as an elongated wedge-
shaped enclosure orientated north west to south east and measuring
approximately 60m long by 30m wide, defined by an encircling ditch. This
ditch, from which material for the construction of a barrow mound would have
been quarried, is broken by a single causeway to the east which would have
provided access to the mound. The buried remains of a Bronze Age bowl barrow
lie some 60m ENE of the long barrow. The barrow mound has been reduced by
ploughing. The area of the mound is some 25m in diameter and is defined by a
circular quarry ditch. The monument is situated some 300m south west of a
further Neolithic long barrow which is the subject of a separate scheduling
(SM 27892).
MAP EXTRACT
The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract.
It includes a 5 metre boundary around the archaeological features,
considered to be essential for the monument's support and preservation.
