Addington Long Barrow

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 long barrows are recorded in England. 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.

This example not only survives well as an earthwork of considerable proportions but also holds high archaeological potential, never having been seriously disturbed over much of its length. Its proximity to another similar monument, also one of the `Medway Megaliths' group, is of particular note.

Details

The Long Barrow is situated on level ground on the western edge of Addington above a stream but, unusually, is not in a prominent location in the landscape. It is, however, sited less than 100m from another similar monument known as the Chestnuts Long Barrow. It is oriented NE-SW, with the broader and higher end, also the end with the burial chamber, to the NE. A little-used metalled road divides the visible part of the monument into unequal parts, the road metalling being excluded from the scheduling but not the ground beneath. The most distinctive feature of the monument is the cluster of medium- sized sarsen stones to the north of the road which represent the remains of a collapsed burial chamber. The chamber originally lay at one end of a long earthen mound which was bordered, probably continuously, by other sarsen stones to form a kerb or peristalith. Many of these kerbstones, both north and south of the road, are either visible or have been detected close to the surface by probing. Quarry ditches probably flanked the mound. The original dimensions of the mound as suggested by the surveys of the kerbstones are ca. 60m in length and 12-14m in width. The actual surviving mound, spread slightly by erosion, measures 63m by 24m and stands to aheight of less than 1m. The road has removed a strip 7-8m wide diagonally across the mound towards the eastern end. During excavations at the monument in 1845 only "rough pottery", undated and untraced, was recovered. The monument has clear parallels, however, in the other Neolithic Long Barrows of the region which form the `Medway Megaliths'.

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:

12769

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

Books and journals
Wright, T, Wanderings of an Antiquary, (1854), 173
Beale-Post, , Beale-Post Manuscript, (), 154-173

Other
Darvill, T, MPP Single Monument Class Descriptions - Bowl Barrows (1988), (1988)

End of official list entry

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