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.
Details
The monument includes a long barrow, lying on a gentle south west facing slope
below the crest of Adlestrop Hill. The barrow has an oval mound 26m long,
orientated WSW-ENE, with a maximum width of 16m, although it now appears wider
due to plough distortion. It reaches a maximum height of 0.8m at the uphill,
eastern end and 1.5m at the downhill, western end. Traces of a quarry ditch
are still visible around the western end of the mound and will survive in
buried form, 4m wide, around the rest of the mound. At the east end of the
mound the tops of three upright stone slabs that formed sides of a burial
chamber are still visible. The barrow was partially excavated in 1935 and
1936 and then again, by Helen Donovan, in 1938. The excavations revealed the
sub-rectangular burial chamber at the eastern end together with the fragmented
remains of seven or eight inhumations. Professor Darvill has suggested that
the barrow, in common with other Cotswold-Severn tombs, formerly possessed a
forecourt at its eastern end.
To the east of the barrow and extending for approximately 400m north
west-south east are several large, grass covered, stone clearance heaps. These
are not included in the scheduling.
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
Legacy System number:
31182
Legacy System:
RSM
Sources
Books and journals
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.
End of official list entry
