Details

The monument includes a long barrow, inconspicuously sited on a flat spur, and
currently under cultivation. The barrow mound is orientated SSE-NNW and
tapers slightly in plan, with the broader end to the south where there appears
to be a concentration of flint nodules. The mound is 60m long, 25m wide and
rises to a height of 0.8m at either end. Near the centre of the mound, a
slight depression separates the two peaks. Flanking quarry ditches run
parallel to the mound on the east and west sides. These are visible as
shallow earthwork features and areas of darker earth. They survive to a width
of 12.5m.
The site is visible from a second long barrow on Little Toyd Down 700m to the
NW and another 1km to the NE.

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 180 long barrows of Hampshire, Wiltshire and Dorset form the densest and
one of the most significant concentrations of monuments of this type in the
country. This example is regarded as important as, despite some damage, it
survives well, and is one of several long barrows in the immediate area.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
Smith, I F , Long Barrows in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, (1979)

Source: Historic England