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Neolithic long barrow and Romano-British inhumation cemetery 70m north of Uffington Castle on Whitehorse Hill

Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places

Overview

Heritage Category:: Scheduled Monument
List Entry Number:: 1008410
Date first listed:: 30-Nov-1995

User submitted image — Uploaded by Ben Ellwood This photo may not represent the current condition of the site
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Official list entry

Heritage Category:: Scheduled Monument
List Entry Number:: 1008410
Date first listed:: 30-Nov-1995

Location

The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.

County:: Oxfordshire
District:: Vale of White Horse (District Authority)
Parish:: Uffington
National Grid Reference:: SU 30014 86523

Reasons for Designation

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 on Whitehorse Hill formed the focus for later burials including a Romano-British inhumation cemetery dated to the fourth century. Romano-British cemeteries were either privately or communally owned ground set aside for the disposal, celebration and remembrance of the dead. Although upstanding mausolea and grave stones were occasionally present they rarely survive as upstanding monuments and there is usually no visible evidence surviving above ground of the location of burials. Individual burials were usually contained within grave cuts and richer burials would have been contained in wooden, stone or even lead coffins. Grave goods can include glass and ceramic vessels containing food, drink and coins to help the individual on the journey into the after life. The monument survives as a visible earthwork and has been shown by partial excavation to contain archaeological evidence relating to the long barrow, the landscape in which it was built, and its later reuse. The site represents an area of land dedicated to the burial of the dead over a long period of time and is situated in close proximity to a number of other important religious and secular monuments including Uffington hillfort and the White Horse.

Details

The monument includes a Neolithic long barrow situated on a north west facing slope, 70m north of Uffington Castle on Whitehorse Hill, an area in the care of the Secretary of State. The barrow also forms the focus for a later Romano-British inhumation cemetery. The barrow has a mound aligned south west to north east which measures 25m long and 12m across at its widest point, with the widest end facing the north east. It stands up to 0.3m high and was originally flanked by two quarry ditches from which material was obtained during the construction of the mound. These have become infilled over the years and are no longer easily defined at ground level although they have been shown by recent excavation to survive as buried features c.4m wide. A circular depression on the centre of the barrow measuring 3.2m in diameter and 0.3m deep represents an excavation shaft, dug in 1857, from which a cremation in a large coarse urn was recovered. This excavation also demonstrated that the mound formed the focus for 46 skeletons buried in 42 graves; five individuals had coins in their mouths which dated them to the late Roman period. Partial re-excavation and geophysical surveys undertaken in June 1993 have proved that the majority of Roman burials remain in situ and that the cemetery extends an unknown distance around the long barrow and its ditch. The excavation has also demonstrated that many of the skeletons lack skulls.

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.

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:: 21776
Legacy System:: RSM

Sources

Books and journals
Davis, J B, Thurnam, J T, Crania Britannica, (1865)
Other
ANCIENT MONUMENTS LABORATORY, GEOPHYSICAL SURVEY PLOTS, 1993, Plots (unpublished to date)
Medical report, Davis & Thurran, E. Martin Atkins, Whitehorse Hill, CRANIA BRITANNICA, (1865)
On site discussion, JEFFERY, P.P., Discussion with S. Palmer (O.A.U.), (1993)
On site discussions, JEFFERY, P.P., DISCUSSION WITH S. PALMER (O.A.U.), (1993)
PRN 10,730, C.A.O., Oblong Mound, (1964)
PRN 10,730, C.A.O., Oblong Mound, (1967)

Legal

This monument is scheduled under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979 as amended as it appears to the Secretary of State to be of national importance. This entry is a copy, the original is held by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.