Details

The monument includes a chambered long barrow situated on the crest of a ridge
with panoramic views in the area of the Cotswold Hills.

The monument, known as the Notgrove long barrow, has a mound orientated
east-west, composed of small stones and trapezoidal in plan. It has maximum
dimensions of 50m from east to west and 26m from north to south and a maximum
height of c.1.5m.

Partial excavations conducted at the site by Witts in 1881 and E M Clifford in
1934-5 have caused the mound to become irregular in appearance. The
excavations demonstrated that the mound was retained by a dry-stone revetment
wall. The presence of an eastern forecourt (or a recess flanked by extensions
of mound on either side) was also detected. The forecourt had dimensions of
15m by 8m.

Within the body of the mound there was found to be a dome-shaped chamber. This
enclosed a cist containing the inhumation of an adult male. The chamber
appears to have been an early construction and was sealed before the other
features were constructed at the site.

There was also an inner gallery or passage which had an entrance on the
eastern side of the mound adjacent to the forecourt. The passage was aligned
east-west and had dimensions of 12m long by 2m. The gallery was found to
contain an amulet, a bone implement and Neolithic pottery and it provided
access into six chambers. The gallery led into an antechamber which in turn
led into four side chambers offset from the gallery (two on either side) and
an end chamber to the west. The side chambers were all found to contain human
skeletal remains and other artefacts such as animal bones and pottery, while
the two end chambers contained animal bones and Neolithic pottery. The
entrance to the inner chamber was blocked during the later Neolithic period.
Flanking the mound on either side is a ditch from which material was quarried
during the construction of the monument. These have become infilled over the
years but survive as buried features c.5m wide.

The finds from the excavations at the site are now held at Cheltenham Museum.
Excluded from the scheduling are all fence posts, drystone walling and gates
relating to the field boundaries, and also the information notice board,
although the ground beneath is included.

MAP EXTRACT
The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract.
It includes a 2 metre boundary around the archaeological features,
considered to be essential for the monument's support and preservation.

Source: Historic England

Reasons for Scheduling

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 examples of
long barrows and long cairns, their counterparts in the uplands, are recorded
nationally. 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.

The Notgrove long barrow is a well known example which survives comparatively
well and is known from partial excavation to contain archaeological and
environmental evidence relating to the monument and the landscape in which it
was constructed. This monument belongs to a wider group of long barrows
commonly referred to as the Cotswold Severn type, named after the area in
which they occur. This long barrow is unusual in that it was found to contain
an inner dome-shaped burial chamber.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
O`Neil, H E, Grinsell, L V, 'Proc of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Arch Soc' in Gloucestershire Barrows, , Vol. 79, (1960), 86
O`Neil, H E, Grinsell, L V, 'Proc of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Arch Soc' in Gloucestershire Barrows, , Vol. 79, (1960), 86
O`Neil, H E, Grinsell, L V, 'Proc of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Arch Soc' in Gloucestershire Barrows, , Vol. 79, (1960), 86
O`Neil, H E, Grinsell, L V, 'Proc of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Arch Soc' in Gloucestershire Barrows, , Vol. 79, (1960), 86
O`Neil, H E, Grinsell, L V, 'Proc of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Arch Soc' in Gloucestershire Barrows, , Vol. 79, (1960), 86
O`Neil, H E, Grinsell, L V, 'Proc of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Arch Soc' in Gloucestershire Barrows, , Vol. 79, (1960), 86
O`Neil, H E, Grinsell, L V, 'Proc of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Arch Soc' in Gloucestershire Barrows, , Vol. 79, (1960), 86
O`Neil, H E, Grinsell, L V, 'Proc of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Arch Soc' in Gloucestershire Barrows, , Vol. 79, (1960), 86
O`Neil, H E, Grinsell, L V, 'Proc of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Arch Soc' in Gloucestershire Barrows, , Vol. 79, (1960), 86
O`Neil, H E, Grinsell, L V, 'Proc of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Arch Soc' in Gloucestershire Barrows, , Vol. 79, (1960), 86
O`Neil, H E, Grinsell, L V, 'Proc of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Arch Soc' in Gloucestershire Barrows, , Vol. 79, (1960), 86
O`Neil, H E, Grinsell, L V, 'Proc of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Arch Soc' in Gloucestershire Barrows, , Vol. 79, (1960), 86
O`Neil, H E, Grinsell, L V, 'Proc of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Arch Soc' in Gloucestershire Barrows, , Vol. 79, (1960), 86
Other
Details of excavations,
Details of finds from excavations,
Details of restoration (1951-64),
Details of restoration (1976),

Source: Historic England