Scheduled Monument: Rainsborough long barrow, Charlton (1013661)

DESCRIPTION OF THE MONUMENT Rainsborough long barrow lies 60m to the north west of Rainsborough hill fort and approximately 500m west of Camp Farm at Charlton. The long barrow lies on the side of a north facing hill and consists of a sub-rectangular mound, 30m long from east to west and 4m wide from north to south. On its upper, south side, the mound stands 0.25m high, and on the lower side the mound is 1m above the adjacent ground level. On the north side of the barrow dry stone walling was set into part of the mound in the 18th century. Although no longer visible at ground level, flanking quarry ditches, from which material was quarried during the construction of the monument, run parallel to the mound on its north and south side. These have become infilled over the years but survive as buried features c.2m wide. ASSESSMENT OF IMPORTANCE Long barrows were constructed as earthen or drystone mounds with flanking ditches and acted as funerary monuments during the Early and Middle Neolithic periods (3400-2400 BC). They represent the burial places of Britain's early farming communities and, as such, are amongst the oldest field monuments surviving visibly in the present landscape. Where investigated, long barrows appear to have been used for communal burial, often with only parts of the human remains having been selected for interment. Certain sites provide evidence for several phases of funerary monument preceding the barrow and, consequently, it is probable that long barrows acted as important ritual sites for local communities over a considerable period of time. Some 500 long barrows are recorded in England. As one of the few types of Neolithic structure to survive as earthworks, and due to their comparative rarity, their considerable age and their longevity as a monument type, all long barrows are considered to be nationally important. Although partly altered by wall building, this long barrow is essentially undisturbed and will retain archaeological evidence within the mound and ditches.

Record last edited

Sep 6 2023 10:00AM