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 at South Fen, situated 90m south west of
the west end of a track known as Rymanmoor Long Turning. It is part of an
alignment of three long barrows, the other two are the subject of separate
schedulings. The barrow has been preserved underneath later deposits of marine
clay and peat, from which the crown of the mound now emerges and has been
spread by modern ploughing. On the modern ground surface the barrow is visible
as a low, spread mound of lighter coloured, slightly sandy soil, some 0.3m in
height and covering an area with dimensions of approximately 55m north west to
south east by 25m north east to south west. Below this, underlying the peat
and clay, is a buried earthen mound which, by comparison with other excavated
examples in the region is thought to measure approximately 50m long and 18m
wide, and to be surrounded by a ditch 5m wide. The infilled ditch and deeper
features within the mound will contain waterlogged deposits.
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
Legacy System number:
33373
Legacy System:
RSM
End of official list entry
