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Summary

BARLINGS AND STAINFIELD BARROW CEMETERY

Full description

PRN 50187
The site of the extensive barrow cemetery in Stainfield Fen. It is centred on TF 0955 7315. {1}{2}

In advance of the alteration of a line of electricity poles a geophysical survey was carried out and aerial photographs were computer plotted. A watching brief was carried out during the erection of the poles but no artefacts were recovered or archaeological layers identified. {3}

The western scheduled area consists of four bowl barrows (maximum extent 130m by 70m). They are visible under pasture as roughly circular earthen mounds, 3 of them are grouped closely together at a distance of about 55m to the west of the fourth. It is probable that all four mounds are encircled by ditches which survive as buried features, although no trace of these are visible on the surface. Borehole samples have shown that the ground surface on a level with the base of the barrow mounds together with the lower part of the mounds themselves, has been covered with later alluvial deposits and peat and lies at a depth of between 0.5m and 0.7m below the present ground surface. There is a full description in the scheduling document 20809. {10}

The eastern scheduled area (300m to the east) includes 11 round barrows of varying type. The barrows and also the ground surface broadly contemporary with their construction and use, like those in the western area, have been partly covered by later deposits of alluvium and peat which still extend over most of the western part of the monument. The field in which they lie has been under cultivation since 1847. Each of the barrows was constructed with a central, circular mound of sand and gravel which has been degraded by ploughing, except where the lower levels are still protected by overlying alluvial deposits. These earthworks are marked by circular areas of lighter sandy soil, some of them still slightly mounded, which are visible from the ground and from the air. The mounds were encircled by ditches which have become infilled but survive as buried features, most of them visible in aerial photographs as rings of darker soil. At least 3 of the barrows include 2 concentric ditches. As a group, the barrows occupy an area with maximum dimensions of 290m north-west to south-east by 150m north-east to south-west. There is a full description in the scheduling document 21472. {9}

Fifteen possible barrows are visible on aerial photographs. {12}

It is suggested that there is a relationship between the barrow cemetery and the nearby conjectured Short Ferry causeway (54780). {13}

<1> Hayes, P. P. and Lane, T. W., 1993, Lincolnshire Survey, The Northern Fen-Edge, p.13 (Bibliographic Reference). SLI1077.

<2> Paul Everson, 1975-90, RCHM, 2931/26-27; 2987/24,1977, (Aerial Photograph). SLI196.

<3> Lindsey Archaeological Services, 1992, Barlings/Stainfield Barrow Cemetery: Electricity Supply, - (Report). SLI3409.

<4> Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England, 1946-98, RCHME National Aerial Photograph Collection at Swindon, SF 3205/21A; SF 3213/6-7,1986, CDC (Aerial Photograph). SLI145.

<5> Paul Everson, 1975-90, RCHM, 5161/4-5,7; 2952/29-30,1977, (Aerial Photograph). SLI196.

<6> P.L. Everson, C.C. Taylor and C.J. Dunn, 1991, Change and Continuity: Rural Settlement in North-West Lincolnshire, ARCHIVE NOTES (Bibliographic Reference). SLI1063.

<7> ENGLISH HERITAGE, 1994, SCHEDULING DOCUMENT 21472 20809, MPP 22 (Scheduling Record). SLI4345.

<8> Paul Everson, 1975-90, RCHM, 2947/34-5; 2931/26,8 2915/24A (Aerial Photograph). SLI196.

<9> Paul Everson, 1983, 'Aerial Photography and Fieldwork in North Lincolnshire' in The Impact of Aerial Reconnaissance on Archaeology, CBA Research Report 49, pp.14-26 (Article in Monograph). SLI86.

<10> Paul Everson and Tom Hayes, 1984, 'Lincolnshire from the Air' in A Prospect of Lincolnshire, P 36 FIG 6 (Article in Monograph). SLI64.

<11> PARISH FILE, BARROW CEMETERY FOLDER (Unpublished Document). SLI4614.

<12> Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England, 1992-1996, National Mapping Programme, LI.534.1-8,10.1-6,1994, (Map). SLI3613.

<13> David Stocker and Paul Everson, 2003, ‘The Straight and Narrow Way: Fenland Causeways and the Conversion of the Landscape in the Witham Valley, Lincolnshire’, in The Cross Goes North: Processes of Conversion in Northern Europe, AD300-1300, pp.271-88 (Article in Monograph). SLI8111.

Monument Types

• RING DITCH (Undated)
• BARROW CEMETERY (Bronze Age - 2200 BC to 801 BC)
• ROUND BARROW (Bronze Age - 2200 BC to 801 BC)

Associated Events

• Watching brief at Barlings/Stainfield barrow cemetery
• Geophysical survey at Barlings/Stainfield barrow cemetery

Protected Status

• Scheduled Monument
• Scheduled Monument
• SHINE

Sources and further reading

Related records

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