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Description

Summary A Neolithic long barrow and Bronze Age round barrow 680m east-south-east of Manor House. Reasons for Designation The long barrow and bowl barrow 680m east-south-east of Manor House are scheduled for the following principal reasons: * Survival: the buried remains of both the Neolithic long barrow and the Bronze Age round barrow have been confirmed to survive from geophysical survey, and are visible as clearly defined crop marks; * 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 monument types dating to the early prehistoric, both barrows are highly representative of the period; * Rarity: long barrows are rare nationally and both barrows are one of very few monument types to offer us insights into the lives and deaths of early prehistoric communities in this country. 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. Bowl barrows, the most numerous forms of round barrow, are funerary monuments dating from the Late Neolithic period to the Late Bronze Age, with most examples belonging to the period 2400-1500 BC. They were constructed as earthen or rubble mounds, sometimes ditched, which covered single or multiple burials. Often occupying prominent locations, they are a major historic element in the modern landscape and their considerable variation of form and longevity as a monument type provide important information on the diversity of beliefs and social organisations amongst early prehistoric communities. They occur either in isolation or grouped as cemeteries and often acted as a focus for burials in later periods. The Neolithic long barrow and Bronze Age bowl barrow 680m ESE of Manor House were first scheduled in 1998. Geophysical survey carried out in 2019 at the site as part of the Lincolnshire Long Barrows project confirmed the form of the features. The results of this geophysical survey clearly identified the location of the enclosure ditches of both barrows but showed the original scheduled area to be in the incorrect position. It incorporated most of the cropmarks of both the long barrow and the ring ditch but was positioned too far to the north-west. The scheduled area has been amended to accurately cover the remains of the long barrow and bowl barrow. Finds from all periods spanning the Palaeolithic to the medieval period have been found in the wider landscape surrounding the barrows, including five Neolithic polished axes which may be contemporary with the long barrow. In the vicinity of the barrow, excavations in the 1950s recovered Neolithic and Bronze Age worked flints and early Bronze Age beaker pottery, although no further settlement or funerary features were identified. Details Principal Elements The long barrow and nearby round barrow lie east of Salmonby, to the south of Bridge Road. The site is south of Blackhill Plantation, 680m east-south-east of Manor House. It is located on undulating ground near to the crest of the slope overlooking a shallow valley to the south formed by a tributary that feeds into the River Lymn. The scheduled area lies at a height of approximately 60m AOD. Description The monument includes the buried remains of a Neolithic long barrow and a Bronze Age bowl barrow situated on the north-eastern slopes of the valley of the River Lymn, some 680m east-south-east of Manor House. Although the barrows cannot be seen on the ground, their infilled and buried ditches are represented as crop marks visible from the air and have been recorded on aerial photographs. The Neolithic long barrow is visible as crop marks on aerial photographs dating to 1977 centred at TF 3321 7316. The barrow is defined by an oval ditched enclosure, aligned north-west to south-east. From the results of geophysical survey, the enclosure appears to be a complete rectangle with rounded terminals, overall 41m long and 16.5m wide. The ditch is an average of 3m wide. Towards the south-east terminal there is a feature, 6m wide which may be either a pit or a geological variation. Towards the north-west end of and within the long barrow is a faint curving positive anomaly, which looks to partially mirror the course of the barrow’s enclosure ditch and may indicate the presence of another internal feature. This feature appears to be 11.5m long and at least 7.75m wide. The north-eastern corner of the enclosure is not visible. Several isolated positive anomalies are evident along the south-west length of the long barrow enclosure ditch, which may be pits or the result of variations in the ditch fill. The ditch is unbroken by a causeway, a form characteristic of the simpler type of Lincolnshire Wolds long barrow which is thought to have been unelaborated by a large earthwork mound. No evidence of an internal mound was identified in the geophysical data. The buried remains of a Bronze Age bowl barrow lie some 20m north-west of the long barrow. The bowl barrow, which has been reduced by ploughing, is defined by an infilled and buried circular ditch. Material used in the construction of the mound over the primary burial would have been quarried from this ditch. From the results of the geophysical survey, the round barrow ring ditch appears as a positive anomaly. Slightly more of the ring ditch is evident in the magnetic survey than mapped from the aerial data. The ring ditch appears to have a diameter of 23m with small spans where it becomes invisible or is physically absent to the north and south-west. Where the ditch is evident it is approximately 3m in width. Within the ring ditch are four isolated positive anomalies, and their location within a probable round barrow is suggestive of graves or cremation pits. Like the adjacent long barrow, no sign of a mound was visible in the magnetic data. Although the long barrow and bowl barrow 680m east-south-east of Manor House have been denuded by ploughing, rare and important archaeological deposits will be preserved in the buried ground surfaces and in the fills of the ditches. These will provide information concerning the dating and construction of the barrows 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 barrows were set. The area of buried ground surface between the two barrows will retain evidence for ritual, funerary and constructional activities relating to the sites over a considerable length of time and may provide indications of the evolving nature of religious beliefs during this period. It is therefore included in the scheduling. The close association of these barrows demonstrates the continuing ritual significance of the location and has wider implications for the study of demography and settlement patterns from the Neolithic period into the Bronze Age. To the south-west of the long barrow there is a weak positive anomaly, 13m and slightly curved. This has the potential to be a fragment of a ditch feature. Three isolated positive anomalies also intersect with this feature and a fourth sits close by in the location one might expect the linear to continue. These may be pits flanking the ditch. These features are included within the scheduled area. Extent of Scheduling The scheduling includes the full extent of the long barrow and the bowl barrow plus a 5m buffer zone considered necessary for the support and preservation of the monument. Sources Books and journals Burl, A, The Stonehenge People, (1989) Field, D, Earthen Long Barrows: The Earliest Monuments in the British Isles, (2006) Last, J (Editor), Beyond the Grave, New Perspectives on Barrows, (2007) Woodward, A, British Barrows A Matter of Life and Death, (2000) 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 Phillips, C W, 'Archaeologia' in The Excavation of the Giants' Hills Long Barrow, Skendleby, Linc, , Vol. 85, (1936), 37-106 Other Archaeological Project Services/Heritage Lincolnshire, 2017 Lincolnshire Long Barrows Assessment Project (No. 7400): Written Scheme of Investigation for Geophysical Survey V2 Discussions, Jones, D, (1995) NMP aerial survey plot, TF3373:LI.76.3.1, (1992)

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