Details

The monument includes a long barrow set in an area of undulating chalk
downland 500m north-west of Danebury hillfort. The mound is orientated east-
west and tapers in plan with the broader end to the east. It is 64m long and,
at the eastern end, stands to a height of 1.3m. The mound is 16m wide and
separated by a berm 3m wide from flanking ditches. These provided material
for the construction of the mound and measure 15m wide and 0.5m deep. Both
are visible as earthworks running the entire length of the mound.
A sherd of Neolithic pottery has been found in the east end of the northern
ditch.
This appears as one of three long barrows in the immediate area.

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. The Down Farm barrow is particularly important as it survives well
and appears as one of a group of three in the immediate area. Such clusters
give an indication of the intensity with which areas were settled during the
Neolithic period, a period for which little evidence for settlement survives.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
Smith, I F , Long Barrows in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, (1979)
Grinsell, L V, 'Proceedings of the Hampshire Field Club' in Hampshire Barrows, (1939)

Source: Historic England