Details

The monument includes a long barrow lying on the crest of a chalk ridge 1020m
NNE of Chapel Field Barn. The barrow includes a mound, aligned north west-
south east, which is 42m long, a maximum of 25m wide and reaches a maximum
height of 1m at its north western end. Traces of a quarry ditch approximately
6m wide can be seen flanking both sides of the mound.
All marker posts are excluded from the scheduling although the ground beneath
these features is included.

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 on Keysley Down, 1020m NNE of Chapel Field Barn is, despite
some erosion caused by cultivation, a comparatively well preserved example of
its class. The barrow exhibits a recognisable profile and will include
archaeological remains containing information about Neolithic beliefs, economy
and environment.

Source: Historic England