Details

The monument includes a long barrow on Blandford Race Down, 820m south
east of Telegraph Clump. The barrow has a parallel sided mound, 44m long,
18m wide and up to 1.8m high, oriented approximately south east-north
west. There is no clear surface evidence for quarry ditches from which
material was derived for the construction of the mound, but they will
survive as buried features 5m wide flanking each side. On either side of
the mound is a berm, about 3m wide, although this is less clear on the
northern side which has been disturbed, probably by wartime activity.
Aerial photographs taken at the time show temporary buildings on and near
the barrow.
This barrow may have been the one partially excavated in 1840 by J H Austen
who found an extended inhumation, probably of much later date, 0.76m from
the top.

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

Cranborne Chase is an area of chalkland well known for its high number,
density and diversity of archaeological remains. These include a rare
combination of Neolithic and Early Bronze Age sites, comprising one of the
largest concentrations of burial monuments in England, the largest known
cursus (a linear ritual monument) and a significant number and range of
henge monuments (Late Neolithic ceremonial centres). Other important
remains include a variety of enclosures, settlements, field systems and
linear boundaries which date throughout prehistory and into the
Romano-British and medieval periods. This high level of survival of
archaeological remains is due largely to the later history of the Chase.
Cranborne Chase formed a Royal Hunting Ground from at least Norman times,
and much of the archaeological survival within the area resulted from
associated laws controlling land-use which applied until 1830. The unique
archaeological character of the Chase has attracted much attention over
the years, notably during the later 19th century, by the pioneering work
on the Chase of General Pitt-Rivers, Sir Richard Colt Hoare and Edward
Cunnington, often regarded as the fathers of British archaeology.
Archaeological investigations have continued throughout the 20th century
and to the present day.
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 collective burial,
often with only parts of the body selected for internment. 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. On Cranborne Chase, some long barrows occur in groups and some are
also associated with other broadly contemporary monument types, such as
the Dorset Cursus. Some long barrows within this area also appear to have
acted as foci for later Bronze Age round barrow groups which are
concentrated within the surrounding areas. Some 500 examples of long
barrows and long cairns, their counterparts in the uplands, are recorded
nationally. Long barrows are known to occur across Wessex, and the
concentration on Cranborne Chase is particularly significant on account of
the range of examples present and their archaeological associations. Long
barrows, therefore, form an important feature of the Cranborne Chase
landscape. 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 on the Chase are
considered to be nationally important.

The long barrow 820m south east of Telegraph Clump is a well-preserved
example of its class and will contain archaeological deposits providing
information about Neolithic burial practices, society and the contemporary
landscape.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset: Volume IV, (1972), 106

Source: Historic England