Details

The monument includes a Neolithic long barrow orientated east to west situated
on level ground 340m north west of Cooks Cottages. The barrow is not visible
at ground level, having been largely reduced by ploughing over time, but is
visible on aerial photographs as an oval enclosure defined by a single
continuous ditch measuring 20m wide and 60m long. The ditch, from which
material was quarried to construct the mound, has become infilled over time
but both the ditch and the remains of the mound will preserve buried
deposits.
The barrow was first identified during the course of the Thames Valley Mapping
Project undertaken by the Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of
England. A Romano-British enclosure 180m north of the monument, and another
long barrow 220m to the south are the subject of separate schedulings.

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 340m north west of Cooks Cottages survives well as buried
deposits. Despite reduction of the barrow mound by arable cultivation over the
years the ditch will contain archaeological and environmental evidence
relating to its construction and the landscape in which it was built. In
addition it is likely that the remains of the mound will protect
archaeological and environmental evidence including a buried land surface,
which will provide information about the landscape prior to the construction
of the barrow.

The presence of another long barrow within 200m enhances the importance of the
monument.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Other
Interpreted by Ms V Fenner, RCHME APU, Thames Valley National Mapping Project, (1995)
Multiple AP's assessed by RCHME APU, RAF, OS, USAF, Private. All at NMR, 63 vertical and oblique prints (1941-1990),
NMR SU 69 SW 89, NMR, NMR Monument Description, (1993)
Title: Ordnance Survey 1:10000 SU 69 SW (NMP overlay)
Source Date: 1993
Author:
Publisher:
Surveyor:

Source: Historic England