Long barrow 140m north west of Cooks Cottages

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.

The long barrow 140m north west of Cooks Cottages survives well as buried deposits. Despite reduction of the barrow mound by arable cultivation over the years the remains of the mound and ditches will contain archaeological and environmental evidence relating to their construction and the landscape in which they were built. In addition it is likely that the remains of the mound will protect a buried land surface which will provide further information about the landscape prior to the construction of the barrows. The presence of a second long barrow within 200m enhances the importance of the monument.

Details

The monument includes a Neolithic long barrow situated on level ground 140m north west of Cooks Cottages. The barrow is not visible at ground level, having been largely reduced by ploughing over time, but is visible on aerial photographs as an oval enclosure defined by a single continuous ditch measuring 75m long and 25m wide. The ditch, from which material was quarried to construct the mound, has become infilled over time, but both the ditch and the remains of the mound will preserve archaeological remains including traces of the Neolithic land surface. The barrow was first identified from aerial photographs during the course of the Thames Valley Mapping Project undertaken by The Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England. A Romano-British settlement approximately 350m north of the barrow and another long barrow 180m to the north are the subject of separate schedulings.

MAP EXTRACT The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract. It includes a 2 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:

31431

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

Other
Title: Ordnance Survey 1:10000 SU 69 SW (NMP overlay) Source Date: 1993 Author: Publisher: Surveyor:
NMR SU 69 SW 88, NMR, NMR Monument Detail, (1993)
Interpreted by Ms V Fenner, RCHME APU, Thames Valley National Mapping Project, (1995)
Multiple AP's assessed by RCHME APU, RAF, OS, USAF, Private. All at NMR, 63 vertical and oblique prints (1941-1990),

End of official list entry

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