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Description

Summary The site of a Neolithic long barrow. It is visible as cropmarks and soilmarks shown in aerial photography. It is roughly oval in shape, aligned north-west by south-east. Further cropmarks 50m to its south indicate the ring ditch of a Bronze Age round barrow. Reasons for Designation The long barrow and round barrow north-east of Warren Farm is scheduled for the following principal reasons: * Survival: as clearly defined crop marks representing the burial practices, beliefs and social organisation amongst early prehistoric communities; * 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 monuments types dating to the early prehistoric, 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 insight into the lives and deaths of early prehistoric communities in this country; * Diversity: for the presence of a later Bronze Age round barrow, indicating the continued attribution of significance to the older monument by later communities. * Group value: for its close proximity to other contemporary monuments, notably the two scheduled long barrows north west of Warren Farm (NHLE 1015772 and 1013908). 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 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 cropmarks and soilmarks 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. Some round barrows also date to the Neolithic period, as early as 3000 BC, but the main period of construction was the early Bronze Age, around 2200-1500 BC. They too may have had a raised mound or a built structure within them. They are often found in association with long barrows and carried out a similar funerary function, suggesting the continued attribution of ritual significance to the older monuments by later communities. The proximity of the long and round barrows north-east of Warren Farm conforms to this pattern of the later reuse of Neolithic long barrow sites by Bronze Age communities for the siting of round barrows. The area of the site was once under ridge and furrow cultivation, likely dating from the medieval period, which may have resulted in the levelling of the ground and subsequent lack of any above-ground features. The barrows were identified from aerial photographs, the earliest being taken by the Ordnance Survey 12 June 1975, where it appears as cropmarks and soilmarks. Details PRINCIPAL ELEMENTS: Near to the crest of a hill overlooking a dry valley 140m north-west of Warren Farm is the site of a Neolithic long barrow. It is visible as cropmarks and soilmarks shown on aerial photography. It is roughly oval in shape, aligned north-west by south-east. Further cropmarks 50m to its south indicate the ring ditch of a Bronze Age round barrow. DESCRIPTION: The long barrow is visible on aerial photographs as cropmarks and soilmarks. It appears as a short oval-shaped enclosure with maximum dimensions measuring 36m by 20m. The mound of the long barrow is suggested by compacted surface soilmarks on additional photography. There are no earthworks visible on the ground which has been altered by medieval ridge and furrow field systems. It lies at a height of 131m AOD on land at the head of the River Lud valley. A ring ditch, 26m in diameter, has also been identified from aerial photoraphs. It lies 50m south and is likely to be the remains of a Bronze Age round barrow. No earthworks survive above ground level. Within approximately 700m of the site are a number of other prehistoric monuments, including two long barrows (NHLE 1015771 and 1013908) and an Iron Age enclosure (NHLE 1004936). Valuable archaeological deposits will be preserved in the fills of the ditch and the soil beneath the former mound. 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 will also retain environmental evidence illustrating the nature of the landscape in which the monument was set. EXTENT OF SCHEDULING: The mapped depiction of the barrows includes a 5m buffer zone which is considered necessary for the support and preservation of the monument. Sources Books and journals Jones, D, 'Long Barrows and Neolithic Elongated Enclosures in Lincolnshire: An Analysis of the Air Photographic Evidence.' in Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society, , Vol. 64, (1998), 83-114 Other Aerial Photogaphs: Ordnance Survey 74/246/231-232 (12.6.75); Paul Everson TF2686/11-14 (26.1.80); National Monuments Record TF 2686 (11.7.80) Field, D 2006 Earthen Long Barrows, The Earliest Monuments in the British Isles. Last, J. (ed) 2007 Beyond the Grave, New Perspectives on Barrows. Woodward, A. 2000 British Barrows A Matter of Life and Death.

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