Details

The monument includes a long barrow known as the Giant's Grave, lying in a
prominent position on a south facing slope immediately below the crest of
Little Toyd Down. The barrow includes a mound 54m long aligned almost
precisely east-west across the slope.
The mound, which slopes gently along its length, is 2.2m high at its highest,
eastern end where it also reaches its maximum width of 20m. It is flanked on
both sides by ditches from which material for its construction was quarried.
These have become almost entirely infilled but survive as buried features
approximately 6m wide.
A linear buried feature running parallel to the north side of the mound at a
distance of approximately 15m may be a chalk extraction pit of recent origin
and is therefore not included in the scheduling.

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 long barrow 760m south west of Grims Lodge Farm is a well preserved
example of its class. Despite the infilling of the quarry ditches the barrow
exhibits a largely original profile and will include archaeological remains
containing information about Neolithic beliefs, economy and environment.

Source: Historic England