Neolithic long barrow 630m north-west of Warren Farm

Summary

A Neolithic long barrow which lies 630m to the north-west of Warren Farm. Evident as a low earthwork and cropmarks.

Reasons for Designation

The long barrow 630m north-west of Warren Farm is scheduled for the following principal reasons:

* Survival: the long barrow has been confirmed to survive as a shallow earthwork on digital elevation models 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 group of similar monuments in the area, especially the scheduled Neolithic long barrow 575m WSW of Manor Warren Farm. These associations pose wider questions regarding the ritual significance of this area and the settlement patterns of the societies who constructed the monuments.

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 Neolithic long barrow 630m north-west of Warren Farm, survives as a shallow earthwork and is visible as cropmarks and soilmarks on aerial photographs (APs). It was first scheduled in July 1997.

Details

PRINCIPAL ELEMENTS
The Neolithic long barrow lies 630m to the north-west of Warren Farm and is situated below the summit of a plateau above the source of the River Lud. It is positioned near to the crest of the hill to the west where Bluestone Heath Road is the highest point at 137m AOD. The barrow lies at approximately 133m AOD and overlooks the head of a dry valley to the north-east that leads into the village of Welton le Wold.

DESCRIPTION
The Neolithic long barrow is visible as cropmarks and soilmarks on aerial photographs and as a shallow earthwork on digital elevation models, centred at TF 2580 8680. The barrow is defined by an oval ditched enclosure elongated north-west by south-east and with maximum dimensions measuring 52 metres by 26 metres. The survival of the infilled and buried ditches is indicated by cropmarks which are clearly visible from the air. The barrow mound is partly visible as a soilmark, but also as a denuded earthwork on digital elevation models derived from 2008 gridded height data and from the Structure from Motion of 2016, a specialist oblique photography.

Although the long barrow 630m north-west of Warren Farm has 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, if scientifically assessed, will provide information concerning the dating and construction of the barrow 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 close association of the long barrow, together with a further long barrow some 250m to the north-east (scheduled as 'Neolithic long barrow 575m WSW of Manor Warren Farm') demonstrates the continuing ritual significance of the area. The long barrow’s proximity to the Bluestone Heath Road, which follows the route of a prehistoric ridgeway around 100m to the west, has wider implications for the study of demography, communications and settlement patterns from the Neolithic period into the Bronze Age.

EXTENT OF SCHEDULING

The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract. The scheduling includes a 5 metre 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:

29703

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

Books and journals
D, Field, Earthen Long Barrows, The Earliest Monuments in the British Isles, (2006)
Woodward, A, British Barrows A Matter of Life and Death, (2000)
J, Last, Beyond the Grave, New Perspectives on Barrows, (2007)
A, Burl, The Stonehenge People, (1989)
Jones,, D, ‘Long Barrows and Neolithic Elongated Enclosures in Lincolnshire: An Analysis of the Air Photographic Evidence.’ in Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society, Vol. 64, (1998), pp83-114
Phillips, C W, Excavation of Giants' Hills Long Barrow, Skendleby, Lincs in Archaeologia, Vol. 85, (1936), 37-106

Other
Discussions, Jones, D, (1995)
Oblique monochrome photograph, Everson, P, 2943/31, (1980)

End of official list entry

All text content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0 , except where otherwise stated. Any supplied maps are © Crown Copyright [and database rights] 2026 OS AC0000815036 and may not be reproduced without permission.

Print the official list entry