Long barrow 410m south east of Partridge Hall Farm

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.

Although the long barrow 410m south east of Partridge Hall Farm is no longer visible as an earthwork, its buried remains survive and will contain a range of highly significant archaeological evidence. Buried soils underneath the mound will retain valuable archaeological information concerning land use in the area prior to the construction of the barrow. Organic deposits preserved in the ditch will provide information on environmental conditions (eg climate, flora and fauna) during and following its use as a funerary monument. The central burial area may preserve fragments of grave goods and/or skeletal material, which will provide further rare evidence relating to the Neolithic occupation of the area. The monument has additional importance as part of a formerly extensive barrow cemetery, now largely destroyed by ploughing.

Details

The monument includes the buried remains of a long barrow 410m south east of Partridge Hall Farm. Although the mound of the barrow has been reduced by ploughing and is no longer visible above ground, buried deposits survive. The encircling ditch, from which earth was dug in the construction of the mound, and the central burial area are visible on aerial photographs as cropmarks (areas of enhanced growth resulting from higher levels of moisture retained by the underlying archaeological features). The barrow is aligned east-west and measures approximately 66m long and 30m wide. The long barrow lies on a low chalk rise and is part of an extensive spread of prehistoric barrows across the chalk uplands of north Hertfordshire and south Cambridgeshire.

MAP EXTRACT The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract. It includes a 10 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:

33382

Legacy System:

RSM

End of official list entry

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