Details

The monument includes a long barrow orientated northeast to southwest and
situated on sloping ground 370m south-south-east of Castle Farm. It is visible
as a barrow mound 30m long by 14m wide and c.1.5m high at its highest point.
An irregular hollow c.1m deep, possibly caused by previous excavation, crosses
the barrow mound from north to south. Although no longer visible at ground
level two parallel ditches, from which material was quarried during the
construction of the monument, lie on either side of the barrow mound to the
north-west and south-east. These ditches have become infilled over the years
but survive as buried features c.3m wide.
A fence which crosses the quarry ditch on the south side of the mound is
excluded from the scheduling, although the ground beneath it 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 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.

The long barrow 370m south-south-east of Castle Farm survives comparatively
well and, despite localised disturbance, contains archaeological and
environmental evidence relating both to the monument and the landscape in
which it was constructed.
The monument is a rare example of a long barrow in an area which otherwise
contains a concentration of later burial monuments.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
Grinsell, L, 'Proceedings of the Somerset Archaeology and Natural Hist Soc' in Somerset Barrows Part II, , Vol. Vol 115, (1971), 84-98
Tratman, E K, 'University of Bristol Speleological Society' in Barrow Catalogue, ()
Tratman, E K, 'Proceedings of the Univ of Bristol Speleological Society' in Fieldwork, , Vol. Vol 5(3), (1946), p. 159
Other
23248, (1991)

Source: Historic England