Hoar Stone 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 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.

Despite erosion caused by cultivation, the Hoar Stone long barrow is known from partial excavation to contain archaeological remains providing information about Neolithic beliefs, economy and environment.

Details

The monument includes a long barrow situated on a south east facing slope below the crest of a wide spur. The long barrow is orientated east-west but has been rounded by cultivation. The mound is 48m long and has a maximum width, at the centre, of 28m. It reaches a maximum height of 0.8m in the part that is no longer under cultivation but elsewhere survives as a slight rise approximately 0.3m high. Set into the east end of the mound is a large, lozenge shaped stone, known locally as the Hoar Stone. To the south of the centre of the mound is a large, kite shaped, capstone which covers a chamber. This was excavated in 1806 by Anthony Preston and is reported to have been divided into two segments and to have contained the remains of eight or nine skeletons. Although no longer visible on the surface, quarry ditches will flank either side of the mound and will survive as buried features 3m wide.

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:

29784

Legacy System:

RSM

End of official list entry

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