Long barrow south-west of Brookenby

Summary

Neolithic long barrow located south-west of Brookenby and 410m north of Priory Farm.

Reasons for Designation

The long barrow south-west of Brookenby is scheduled for the following principal reasons:

* Survival: as a Neolithic long barrow visible as clearly defined cropmarks and soil marks on aerial photography;

* Potential: for the buried 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, in particular the remains of Cromwell’s Grave long barrow 1.9km to the east (NHLE 1013885) and Ash Hill long barrow 1.7km to the north-east (NHLE 1013886), both scheduled.

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 south-west of Brookenby and 410m north of Priory Farm was first recorded as a low earthwork from aerial photographs. Soil marks visible on 1970s aerial photos show the barrow was bisected by a modern field boundary, but this had been scrubbed out. Lidar imagery shows the barrow mound to survive but has been displaced slightly from the enclosure ditch, possibly as a result of ploughing. A geophysics survey was undertaken in 2019 as part of the Lincolnshire Long Barrows project and has confirmed the survival of the enclosure ditch but did not pick up the mound or any internal features.

Details

PRINCIPAL ELEMENTS: Neolithic long barrow located south-west of Brookenby and 410m north of Priory Farm. The long barrow lies near to the crest of a south-east facing valley slope at the western end of a stream that becomes the Waithe Beck at 95m AOD.

DESCRIPTION: The long barrow is visible as cropmarks and soilmarks on aerial photographs and as a shallow earthwork on 2006-2007 LIDAR, centred at TF 1954 9500. The barrow comprises a rectilinear ditched enclosure elongated north-west to south-east with maximum dimensions measuring 36m by 78.5m. Elements of an internal enclosure are also visible, as well as a possible external pit and ditch. The barrow mound is visible as a very shallow earthwork on LIDAR although this was not evident on the geophysical survey. The barrow is on the line of a post medieval field boundary, also visible as an earthwork bank, but the barrow mound is distinctly more pronounced and appears to roughly fit the footprint of the enclosure, though displaced by approximately 5m to the north-east which may be an effect of ploughing over time.

Another linear feature truncates/bisects the barrow in a north-east to south-west angle. This may also be a relict post medieval field boundary or related to the Second World War dispersal bay of RAF Binbrook which was located less than 5m to the north, with which it aligns. A small rectangular enclosure some 67m to the south (UID 1606382) is on the same alignment as the long barrow and may be associated.

Valuable archaeological deposits will be preserved, 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. In the wider landscape the remains of Cromwell’s Grave long barrow lies 1.9km to the east and Ash Hill long barrow 1.7km to the north-east (both scheduled).

EXTENT OF SCHEDULING: The scheduled area is marked on the attached map and includes a 5m buffer zone which is considered necessary for the support and preservation of the monument. There are no exclusions from the scheduling.

Sources

Books and journals
Last, J, Beyond the Grave, New Perspectives on Barrows (2007),
Woodward, A, British Barrows A Matter of Life and Death (2000),
Field, D, Earthen Long Barrows, The Earliest Monuments in the British Isles (2006),
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
Geophysical Survey Report LLB1.27 2019 Archaeological Services, Heritage Lincolnshire

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