Westwood long barrow, 400m east of Westwood Farm

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.

Westwood long barrow survives well, despite some unrecorded excavation in the past, and is situated within an area of considerable prehistoric activity. A round barrow lies 200m to the north, while a second long barrow and a cross dyke lie 1km further to the north (all are the subject of separate schedulings). The long barrow mound will contain evidence for chambers, burials and grave goods, which will provide information about prehistoric funerary practices and about the local community at that time. The mound will also preserve environmental information in the buried ground surface, predating the construction of the barrow and giving evidence for the landscape at the time of the barrow's construction. In addition, the mound and its associated ditches will contain environmental information in the form of organic remains which will relate both to the monument and the wider landscape.

Details

The monument includes a long barrow 400m east of Westwood Farm, oriented ENE- WSW and standing on a flat hilltop in the Cotswolds overlooking a valley to the west. It is visible as a mound 54m long, 21m wide, and ranging in height from about 0.25m to 1.4m. There is an area of disturbance in the middle of the northern side of the mound, which is considered to be the result of an unrecorded excavation. The west end and southern side of the barrow are the better preserved. Two parallel ditches, from which material was excavated for the construction of the monument, lie one on either side of the barrow mound to the north and south. These ditches are no longer visible at ground level, having become infilled over time, but survive as buried features about 3m wide. The post and wire fence which runs east-west to the south of the long barrow is excluded from the scheduling, although the ground beneath it is included.

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:

32346

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

Books and journals
O`Neil, H E, Grinsell, L V, Proc of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Arch Soc in Gloucestershire Barrows, Vol. LXXIX, (1960), 78

End of official list entry

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