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Giant's Grave: a long barrow 400m north-west of Down Farm

A Scheduled Monument in Breamore, Hampshire

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Coordinates

Latitude: 50.9795 / 50°58'46"N

Longitude: -1.8035 / 1°48'12"W

OS Eastings: 413888.487168

OS Northings: 120033.362525

OS Grid: SU138200

Mapcode National: GBR 52D.DW1

Mapcode Global: FRA 763J.964

Entry Name: Giant's Grave: a long barrow 400m north-west of Down Farm

Scheduled Date: 9 October 1981

Last Amended: 7 March 1991

Source: Historic England

Source ID: 1015980

English Heritage Legacy ID: 12085

County: Hampshire

Civil Parish: Breamore

Traditional County: Hampshire

Lieutenancy Area (Ceremonial County): Hampshire

Church of England Parish: Breamore St Mary

Church of England Diocese: Winchester

Details

The monument includes a long barrow set below the crest of a gentle south-west
facing slope in an area of undulating chalk downland. The mound is rectangular
in plan and orientated NE-SW with the NE end facing uphill and surviving to a
height of 2.4m. The opposite end is downslope and appears much reduced by
ploughing. The barrow mound is 68m long and 20m wide flanked on either side by
a berm 0.5m wide and ditches from which the mound material was quarried. These
run the length of the mound and survive to a width of 12.5m and a maximum
depth of 0.2m.

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. Giant's Grave is important as it survives
well and, with no evidence of formal excavation, has considerable
archaeological potential.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
Schofield, A J, Putting Lithics To The Test, (1987)
Smith, I F , Long Barrows in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, (1979)

Source: Historic England

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