Two long mortuary enclosures 570m east and 590m ENE of Sandford Barton
Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places
Overview
- Heritage Category:
- Scheduled Monument
- List Entry Number:
- 1020072
- Date first listed:
- 11-Dec-2001
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Location
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Images of England Project
- Date:
- 2001-12-12
- Reference:
- IOE01/00899/25
- Rights:
- © Lorna Freeman. Source: Historic England Archive
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Discover moreOfficial list entry
- Heritage Category:
- Scheduled Monument
- List Entry Number:
- 1020072
- Date first listed:
- 11-Dec-2001
Location
The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.
- County:
- Devon
- District:
- West Devon (District Authority)
- Parish:
- North Tawton
- National Grid Reference:
- SS 69539 01290, SS 69547 01412
Reasons for Designation
Long mortuary enclosures are oblong-shaped enclosures up to 150m in length, surrounded by narrow, fairly straight ditches with slightly rounded corners, containing an open space edged by a perimeter bank set within the ditch. Characteristically there are two or more major causeways across the ditch which served as entrances. Most long mortuary enclosures are orientated within 45 degrees of an east-west alignment. Long mortuary enclosures are generally associated with human burials dated to the Early and Middle Neolithic periods (c.3200-2500 BC). There are approximately 35 examples recorded in England. The greatest concentration lies in Essex and Suffolk, but there are also examples along the Thames and in Warwickshire along the Avon; two isolated examples have been recorded in Northumberland. Long mortuary enclosures are very rare nationally and all surviving examples are considered worthy of protection.
Despite reduction in the heights of their earthworks through cultivation, the long mortuary enclosures 570m east and 590m ENE of Sandford Barton will contain both archaeological and environmental information relating to the monument and its surrounding landscape.
Details
This monument, which includes the cropmarks of two long mortuary enclosures, in two areas of protection, is located on a gently sloping ridge which forms the watershed to two tributaries of the River Yeo. To the south and east are further important ritual monuments in the form of bowl barrows and a henge; these are the subject of separate schedulings. The two long mortuary enclosures survive as cigar shaped enclosures surrounded by ditches. These enclosures measure up to approximately 70m long and 25m wide. They are both clearly visible from the air as cropmarks, and they are preserved as entirely buried features.
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:
- 34281
- Legacy System:
- RSM
Sources
Other
Devon County Sites and Monuments Register, SS60SE80, (1992)
Devon County Sites and Monuments Register, SS60SE52, (1992)
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.
Map
This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale. This copy shows the entry on 26-Jun-2026 at 06:48:31.
Download a full scale map (PDF)End of official list entry
All text content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0 , except where otherwise stated. Any supplied maps are © Crown Copyright [and database rights] 2026 OS AC0000815036 and may not be reproduced without permission.