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Summary

Scheduled Cropmark Long Barrow

Full description

PRN 43174
The monument includes the buried remains of a Neolithic long barrow located on the eastern side of the valley of the tributary of the river Lymn. It was first identified in 1976 and was recorded on aerial photographs. A geophysical survey in 1989 further demonstrated its form and extent. Although the barrow mound has been degraded by ploughing, the encircling ditch is preserved beneath the present ground surface. Valuable archaeological information will be retained in the fills of this ditch, and on and within the buried ground surface, relating to the construction of the monument and to the sequence of mortuary ritual at the site. Environmental evidence preserved in the same contexts will illustrate the nature of the landscape in which the monument was set. The dimensions of the long barrow are worthy of note since it represents the largest of the class yet identified in Lincolnshire. The monument forms part of a dispersed group of long barrows associated with the bluestone heath road and known as the Skendleby group. The road itself is thought to have originated as a prehistoric trackway and is, at this point overlain by the course of a roman road. A section of the monument, towards the western end, has been disturbed by chalk quarrying and this provided an opportunity for limited archaeological evaluation in 1989. Sampling for radiocarbon dating confirmed that the monument was constructed in the Neolithic period. {1} {2}
The long barrow is aligned ESE-WNW, on a valley lip, with the long axis running parallel to the contours, at 80m OD, south facing. Very elongated enclosure, comprising two close parallel ditches, which bell out at the east end to give a spoon shape. A causeway occurs at the east end, and possibly at the west end. The site is recorded as cropmarks. The spoon-shaped east end may be caused by a secondary ring ditch. At west end the enclosure is bisected by a disused quarry pit, where salvage excavations were undertaken by the writer. {3}

<1> Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England, 1992-1996, National Mapping Programme, TF3777:LI.109.5.1,1992, (Map). SLI3613.

<2> ENGLISH HERITAGE, 1996, SCHEDULING DOCUMENT 27867, MPP 22 (Scheduling Record). SLI4433.

<3> Dilwyn Jones, 1998, Gazetteer of Neolithic Elongated Enclosures and Extant Long Barrows in (Historic) Lincolnshire, NO 5 (Index). SLI2302.

Monument Types

• LONG BARROW (Early Neolithic to Late Neolithic - 4000 BC to 2351 BC)

Associated Events

• Evaluation of part of long barrow
• Geophysical survey of long barrow

Protected Status

• Scheduled Monument

Sources and further reading

Search results generated by the HBSMR Gateway from exeGesIS SDM Ltd.