Details

The monument includes the buried and upstanding remains of a long barrow
located 730m south west of Enslow Bridge, near Bunkers Hill in the parish of
Shipton-on-Cherwell and Thrupp. The barrow is situated on level ground along
the western edge of the valley of the river Cherwell.
The surviving barrow mound is oblong in plan, orientated north to south, and
measures approximately 70m long, 25m wide and 0.3m high. The barrow would
have been flanked on its eastern and western sides by quarry ditches that
would have provided material from which the barrow mound was constructed.
These are no longer visible at ground level due to silting and later
cultivation, but are believed to survive as a buried feature, approximately
3m wide.
The monument is situated in an area which contains a particular concentration
of similar burial monuments, including two further long barrows (not included
in this scheduling), located 420m to the north west and 400m to the west of
the monument.

MAP EXTRACT
The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract.

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 730m south west of Enslow Bridge survives well and may form
one of a larger group of three long barrows located on the western edge of
the river Cherwell.
The monument will retain evidence of its construction and use, and may
contain primary/secondary burials. Environmental evidence in the form of
seeds and pollen will also tell us much about the landscape in which it was
set.
In addition, the relationship between the barrow and similar burial monuments
in the area will tell us much about the ritual and burial practises of their
Neolithic builders.

Source: Historic England