Details

The monument includes the buried remains of a Neolithic long barrow situated
just below the summit of, and parallel to, the main western escarpment of the
Lincolnshire Wolds, some 480m south east of Acre House.
Although the monument has been reduced by ploughing and is no longer visible
on the ground, it can be clearly seen from the air and has been recorded as a
cropmark on aerial photographs. The cropmark (an area of enhanced growth
resulting from higher levels of moisture retained by the underlying
archaeological features) represents the infilled and buried ditch enclosing an
area set aside for funerary activities and rituals.
The barrow measures approximately 38m north to south by 15m east to west
overall. Its circuit is complete and this absence of any causeway suggests
that this is an example of the simpler form of Lincolnshire Wolds long barrow
which was not elaborated by the construction of a large earthen mound. The
area within the ditch is thought to contain buried archaeological features,
including pits, post holes and burial deposits.

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.

The long barrow 480m south east of Acre House survives well as a buried
feature clearly visible from the air. Its internal area and infilled ditch
will retain rare and valuable archaeological deposits, including human
remains, relating to its dating, construction and period of use, and to the
religious beliefs and funerary practices of its builders. Environmental
evidence preserved in the same contexts may illustrate the nature of the
landscape in which the monument was set.
The long barrow is one of a group of similar monuments in the area which are
associated with the Nettleton and Otby Becks, and with the prehistoric
trackway now formalised as the B1225 (High Street). This preponderance of
burial sites is indicative of the ritual significance of the area and has
considerable implications for the study of settlement and demography during
the Neolithic period.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Other
oblique monochrome print, Everson P, PLE TF1196/3, (1979)

Source: Historic England