Details

The monument includes the buried remains of a Neolithic long barrow situated
465m north west of Dexthorpe, on a south facing slope overlooking a tributary
of the River Lymn, and below the source of the Skendleby Beck. Although the
monument cannot be seen on the ground, it is clearly visible from the air.
Aerial photographs have recorded cropmarks, indicating the below ground
survival of an elongated oval enclosure defined by an infilled and buried
ditch measuring c.75m long by 25m wide, orientated ESE-WNW. The ditch circuit
is thought to be unbroken by a causeway, suggesting that the remains represent
a type of Lincolnshire Wolds long barrow which in this case did not culminate
in the construction of a mound.
The monument is situated approximately 550m south of the remains of two
further long barrows which are the subject of seperate schedulings, at Spellow
Hills (SM 27856) and one south of Langton Grange Cottage, (SM 27896).

MAP EXTRACT
The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract.
It includes a 5 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, generally with
flanking ditches. They acted as funerary monuments during the Early and Middle
Neolithic periods (3400-2400 BC), representing the burial places of Britain's
early farming communities, and as such are amongst the oldest field monuments
surviving 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 activities preceding the construction of the barrow mound,
including ditched enclosures containing structures related to various rituals
of burial. It is probable, therefore, that long barrows acted as important
spiritual sites for their local communities over considerable periods of time.
The long barrows of the Lincolnshire Wolds and their adjacent regions have
been identified as a distinct regional grouping of monuments in which the
flanking ditches are continued around the ends of the barrow mound, either
continuously or broken by a single causeway towards one end. More than 60
examples of this type of monument are known; a small number of these survive
as earthworks, but the great majority of sites are known as cropmarks and
soilmarks recorded on aerial photographs where no mound is evident at the
surface.
Not all Lincolnshire long barrows include mounds. Current limited
understanding of the processes of Neolithic mortuary ritual in Lincolnshire is
that the large barrow mound represents the final phase of construction which
was not reached by all mortuary monuments. Many of the sites where only the
ditched enclosure is known have been interpreted as representing monuments
which had fully evolved mounds, but in which the mound itself has been
degraded or removed by subsequent agricultural activity. In a minority of
cases, however, the ditched enclosure will represent a monument which never
developed a burial mound.
As a distinctive regional grouping of one of the few types of Neolithic
monuments known, these sites are of great value. They were all in use over a
great period of time and are thus highly representive of changing cultures of
the peoples who built and maintained them. All forms of long barrow on the
Lincolnshire Wolds and its adjacent regions are therefore considered to be of
national importance and all examples with significant surviving remains are
considered worthy of protection.

Despite modification by ploughing, the long barrow 465m north west of
Dexthorpe survives beneath the present ground surface and will retain rare
and valuable archaeological deposits, including funerary remains, relating to
the construction, dating and period of use of the site together with insights
into the ritual beliefs of the barrow builders. Environmental evidence
preserved within the fills of the buried ditch and on the old ground surface
will illustrate the nature of the landscape in which the monument was set.
The barrow is associated with two other long barrows to the north, and is
one of a wider distribution which includes the Skendleby group and the pair
known as Deadmen's Graves. The distribution of these barrows attests to the
ritual significance of the location during the Neolithic period, and has
significant value for the study of prehistoric settlement patterns and
demography.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Other
discussion with researcher, Jones D, long barrow forms on the Lincolnshire wolds, (1995)
oblique monochrome print, Index no TF4027/24 Accession no 12713 22, (1995)

Source: Historic England