Long Barrow 165m south-east of Mawers Plantation

Summary

Neolithic long barrow 165m south-east of Mawers Plantation.

Reasons for Designation

The long barrow 165m south-east of Mawers Plantation is scheduled for the following principal reasons:

* Survival: the buried remains of the long barrow have been confirmed to survive, with a continuous ditched enclosure, from geophysical survey, and it is visible as a clearly defined crop mark;
* Potential: for the buried archaeological deposits which retain considerable potential to provide evidence relating to social organisation and demographics, cultural associations, human development, disease, diet, and death rituals. Buried environmental evidence can also inform us about the landscape in which the barrows were constructed;
* Period: as one of very few monument types dating to the Neolithic, it is highly representative of the period;
* Rarity: as an example of a monument type which is rare nationally and one of very few monument types to offer us insights into the lives and deaths of early prehistoric communities in this country;
* Group value: for its close proximity to other contemporary or spatially related scheduled monuments, notably Burgh Top long barrow (NHLE 1013904) and multiple nearby scheduled bowl barrows, thought to be of Bronze Age date; one is located 150m east (NHLE 1013925), one 230m south-east (NHLE 1018586) and one 580m to the south (NHLE 1013924).

History

Long barrows and chambered tombs are the main forms of Neolithic funerary monument, constructed from before 3800 BC with new monuments continuing to be built throughout the 4th millennium BC. Where they are precisely dated it appears their primary use for burial rarely lasted longer than about 100 years. Generally comprising long, linear earthen mounds or stone cairns, often flanked by ditches, they can appear as distinctive features in the landscape. They measure up to about 100m in length, 35m in width and 4m in height, and are sometimes trapezoidal or oval in plan. Earthen long barrows are found mostly in southern and eastern England and are usually unchambered, although some examples have been found to contain timber mortuary structures. Regional variation in construction is generally a reflection of locally available resources. Megalithic or stone chambered tombs are most common in Scotland and Wales but are also found in those parts of England with ready access to the large stones and boulders from which they are constructed, especially the Cotswolds, the South-West and Kent. There are around 540 long barrows recorded nationally.

Long barrows of the Lincolnshire Wolds have been identified as a distinct regional grouping of monuments in which the flanking ditches are continued around the ends of the barrow mound, either continuously or broken by a single causeway towards one end. A small number survive as earthworks, but the majority are known from crop marks and soil marks where no or very low mounds are evident on the surface. Not all Lincolnshire long barrows had mounds and our current understanding of Neolithic mortuary practices in this part of the country is that the large barrow mound was in fact the final phase of construction which was not reached by all monuments. Previously many of the sites where only the ditched enclosure is known have been interpreted as a barrow where the mound has been degraded or removed by subsequent agricultural activity. In some cases, the ditched enclosure (mortuary enclosure) represents a monument which never developed a mound.

The long barrow 165m south-east of Mawers Plantation was identified from aerial photography and has been interpreted as the remains of a prehistoric long barrow. Geophysical survey was carried out in 2018 as part of the Lincolnshire Long Barrows Project to confirm the form of the feature. The results of the geophysical survey were a close match with the mapping from aerial photography.

Details

Principal Elements

A long barrow 165m south-east of Mawers Plantation, defined as a cropmark enclosure, lies adjacent to South Walk Farm and the barrow is situated some 180m south-south-east, next to B1225 High Street on roughly level ground. It overlooks a valley with an un-named spring and watercourse that later becomes Stainfield Beck further to the west. The barrow lies at 131m AOD.

Description

The Neolithic long barrow is visible as cropmarks and soil marks on air photographs centred at TF 2133 8463. The geophysical survey shows a continuous oval enclosure, confirming this to be a single long barrow, rather than two adjacent round barrows, as previously thought from the aerial photography assessment. The location on the high shoulder of a natural spur also conforms with long barrows in this area. Defined by a 'keyhole' shaped ditched enclosure, the feature is aligned north-west to south-east and has maximum dimensions measuring 20m by 36m. It is not visible as an earthwork in the landscape and recent mapping describes it as uneven and unusually shaped for a long barrow. An internal mound is visible as a compacted surface, both as soil marks and negative cropmarks on aerial photography but could not be defined from the geophysical survey. There is soil mark evidence of medieval ridge and furrow in the same field, perhaps suggesting the earthwork elements were levelled by this cultivation.

Archaeological deposits will be preserved in the spread mound, on the buried ground surface and in the fills of the ditch. These will provide rare information concerning the dating and construction of the monument and the sequence of mortuary practices at the site. The same deposits may also retain environmental evidence illustrating the nature of the contemporary landscape in which the monument was set.

The site lies in an area that has multiple prehistoric funerary monuments. Burgh Top is a known scheduled Neolithic long barrow (NHLE 1013925) that lies 330m north of the site, with a heavy concentration of flint finds around it, including Neolithic arrowheads and a Neolithic knife. There are also multiple nearby scheduled bowl barrows thought to be of Bronze Age date; one is located 150m east (NHLE 1013925), one 230m south-east (NHLE 1018586) with another 580m to the south (NHLE 1013924).

Several post-medieval chalk pits have been identified within the vicinity of the long barrow, but these do not form part of the scheduling.

Extent of Scheduling

The scheduling includes the full extent of the long barrow plus a 5m buffer zone considered necessary for the support and preservation of the monument.

Sources

Books and journals
Woodward, A, British Barrows A Matter of Life and Death, (2000)
Last, J, Beyond the Grave, New Perspectives on Barrows, (2007)
Jones, D, ‘Long Barrows and Neolithic Elongated Enclosures in Lincolnshire’ in Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society , Vol. 68, (1998), 83-114
Field, D, Earthen Long Barrows, The Earliest Monuments in the British Isles, (2006)

Other
Archaeological Project Services/Heritage Lincolnshire, 2017 Lincolnshire Long Barrows Assessment Project (No. 7400): Written Scheme of Investigation for Geophysical Survey V2

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