Scheduled Monument: Long barrow, 1100 yards (1000m) west of Bere Down Buildings (SM28393)

EXTRACT FROM ENGLISH HERITAGE'S RECORD OF SCHEDULED MONUMENTS MONUMENT: Long barrow on Bere Down, 1100m north east of Roke Barn PARISH: BERE REGIS DISTRICT: PURBECK COUNTY: DORSET NATIONAL MONUMENT NO: 28393 NATIONAL GRID REFERENCE(S): SY82989724 DESCRIPTION OF THE MONUMENT The monument includes a long barrow situated upon a spur on Bere Down, overlooking the Bere valley to the south. The long barrow has a mound, aligned north east by south west, composed of flint, earth and chalk. The mound, which has maximum dimensions of 55m in length, 24m in width and about 0.5m-0.75m in height, is associated with five sarsen blocks which were revealed during the course of ploughing operations. The sarsen stones were identified within the central and southern areas of the mound and may relate to an inner chamber. The mound is flanked on either side by a ditch from which material was quarried during the construction of the monument. The ditches have become infilled over the years, although the southern example is visible as a terrace 14m wide, running parallel to the length of the mound. The long barrow later became incorporated within a prehistoric field boundary and lynchets are known to have run up to the mound. The field system has since been levelled by ploughing. ASSESSMENT OF IMPORTANCE 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. Despite some reduction by ploughing, the long barrow on Bere Down, 1100m north east of Roke Barn survives comparatively well and will contain archaeological and environmental evidence relating to the monument and the landscape in which it was constructed. SCHEDULING HISTORY Monument included in the Schedule on 14th December 1926 as: COUNTY/NUMBER: Dorset 87 NAME: Long barrow, 1100 yards (1000m) west of Bere Down Buildings The reference of this monument is now: NATIONAL MONUMENT NUMBER: 28393 NAME: Long barrow on Bere Down, 1100m north east of Roke Barn SCHEDULING REVISED ON 09th March 2001

Record last edited

Nov 17 2014 12:28PM