Reasons for Designation
Standing stones are prehistoric ritual or ceremonial monuments with dates ranging from the Late Neolithic to the end of the Bronze Age for the few excavated examples. They comprise single or paired upright orthostatic slabs, ranging from under lm to over 6m high where still erect. They are often conspicuously sited and close to other contemporary monument classes. They can be accompanied by various features: many occur in or on the edge of round barrows, and where excavated, associated subsurface features have included stone cists, stone settings, and various pits and hollows filled in with earth containing human bone, cremations, charcoal, flints, pots and pot sherds. Similar deposits have been found in excavated sockets for standing stones, which range considerably in depth. Several standing stones also bear cup and ring marks. Standing stones may have functioned as markers for routeways, territories, graves, or meeting points, but their accompanying features show they also bore a ritual function and that they form one of several ritual monument classes of their period that often contain a deposit of cremation and domestic debris as an integral component. No national survey of standing stones has been undertaken, and estimates range from 50 to 250 extant examples, widely distributed throughout England but with concentrations in Cornwall, the North Yorkshire Moors, Cumbria, Derbyshire and the Cotswolds. Standing stones are important as nationally rare monuments, with a high longevity and demonstrating the diversity of ritual practices in the Late Neolithic and Bronze Age. The standing stone known as the Long Stone, 180m north of Halvanance Farm survives well and is a rare and ancient monument type. There is also no documentary evidence to suggest it has been moved or re-erected and it appears as an element in the place names of both the Downs on which it is situated and for several neighbouring farms. As a result it will contain archaeological and environmental evidence relating to its erection, use, longevity, ritual and social significance as well as its overall landscape context.
Details
This monument includes a standing stone known as the Long Stone situated on a prominent ridge known as Longstone Down. The standing stone survives as an upright, slightly leaning earthfast granite monolith measuring up to 2.8m high set into a roadside hedge.
Sources: HER:-
PastScape Monument No:-425911
