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Prehistoric long barrow and four round barrows 580m and 750m south west of Mitchell Farm

Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places

Overview

Heritage Category:: Scheduled Monument
List Entry Number:: 1017350
Date first listed:: 11-Feb-2000

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Official list entry

Heritage Category:: Scheduled Monument
List Entry Number:: 1017350
Date first listed:: 11-Feb-2000

Location

The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.

District:: Cornwall (Unitary Authority)
Parish:: St. Newlyn East
National Grid Reference:: SW 85122 54136, SW 85307 54151

Reasons for Designation

Long barrows are earthen or drystone mounds with flanking ditches of the Early and Middle Neolithic periods (3400-2400 BC). The communal burial places of Britain's early farming communities, they are amongst the oldest field monuments surviving visibly in the present landscape. There may be several phases of funerary monument preceding the barrows, which were probably important ritual sites for local communities over a long period of time. Round barrows date mostly to the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age (c.2400-1500 BC). They are earthen mounds, sometimes ditched, covering single or multiple burials. They occur either in isolation or grouped in cemeteries. They often acted as a focus of burials in later periods, and are occasionally associated with earlier long barrows. Often superficially similar, though differing widely in size, they exhibit regional variations in form and a diversity of burial practices within their overall distribution. Round barrows occur across most of Britain. Both long barrows and round barrows are long lived monument types and often occupy prominent positions in the landscape. Long barrows are comparatively rare, with some 500 recorded nationally, and are of considerable age, being one of the few types of surviving Neolithic earthworks. Over 10,000 surviving round barrows are recorded nationally, and their diversity provides important information on the variety of beliefs and social organisation amongst early prehistoric communities. The long barrow and four round barrows 580m and 750m south west of Mitchell Farm survive reasonably well. Despite being reduced by ploughing, the low mounds with discernible plans remain, as will the underlying old land surface and any surviving original deposits in the base of the mounds. The location of the round barrows in a wider ridge top cemetery, the close association of the long barrow with the later round barrows, and the alignment of the round barrows, illustrate well the important roles of topography and of continuity in prehistoric funerary activity.

Details

The monument includes a long barrow and four round barrows within two areas of protection, situated high on the west shoulder of a ridge east of Carland Cross, together forming the western part of a prehistoric ridge top barrow cemetery, and bisected by a modern field boundary. The four round barrows are aligned WSW-ENE over 210m; the three eastern barrows in this alignment are closely spaced, while the fourth is about 150m to their WSW. The long barrow, situated north west of the western round barrow, has a long mound orientated north east-south west with a slightly irregular tapered ovoid plan, broader at the north east end, and measuring approximately 22m long and 13m across, and 0.4m high. Of the four aligned round barrows, the westernmost has a low mound measuring approximately 15m in diameter and 0.2m high. To the ENE is the closely spaced group of three barrows in the alignment, the western barrow in this group having a low mound, approximately 16m in diameter and 0.3m high. The central barrow and the easternmost have similar low mounds approximately 15m in diameter and 0.2m high.

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:: 32907
Legacy System:: RSM

Sources

Books and journals
Barnatt, J, Prehistoric Cornwall: The Ceremonial Monuments, (1982), 48
Megaw, JVS, Simpson, DDA, Introduction to British Prehistory, (1981), 89
Henderson, C, 'Parochial Antiquities' in Parochial Antiquities, , Vol. 3, (1916), 210
Herring, P, 'Cornish Archaeology' in A Long-Cairn on Catshole Tor, Altarnun, , Vol. 22, (1983), 81-83
Mercer, R, 'Cornish Archaeology' in The Neolithic in Cornwall, , Vol. 25, (1986), 55-57
Prior, R, 'Journal of the Royal Institution of Cornwall' in Journal of the Royal Institution of Cornwall, (1898), 435-436
Prior, R, 'Journal of the Royal Institution of Cornwall' in Journal of the Royal Institution of Cornwall, (1898)
Other
Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey Index Card, (1970)
Title: Ordnance Survey 1:2500 Map Source Date: 1879 Author: Publisher: Surveyor:
Title: Ordnance Survey 2" field drawing Source Date: 1811 Author: Publisher: Surveyor:

Legal

This monument is scheduled under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979 as amended as it appears to the Secretary of State to be of national importance. This entry is a copy, the original is held by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.