Summary
A Neolithic long barrow, 300m west of Hoe Hill Farm and associated mortuary enclosure located 165m south-west of Hoe Hill Farm.
Reasons for Designation
The long barrow 300m west of Hoe Hill Farm and mortuary enclosure 165m south-west of Hoe Hill Farm, are scheduled for the following principal reasons:
* Survival: as a prehistoric long barrow and mortuary enclosure, the former evident as a substantial earthwork and the latter confirmed to survive as buried remains through geophysical survey and visible as a clearly defined crop mark;
* Potential: for the buried archaeological deposits which retain considerable potential to provide evidence relating to social organisation and demographics, cultural associations, human development, disease, diet, and death rituals. Buried environmental evidence can also inform us about the landscape in which the barrows and mortuary enclosures were constructed;
* Period: as one of very few monument types dating to the early prehistoric, the long barrow and mortuary enclosure are highly representative of the period;
* Rarity: as examples of monument types which are nationally rare and one of very few monument types to offer us insights into the lives and deaths of early prehistoric communities in this country;
* Group value: for their close proximity to other contemporary or spatially related scheduled monuments, notably the long barrows at Ash Hill (1013886), Thorganby (1020359) and Ash Holt (1013890).
History
Long barrows and chambered tombs are the main forms of Neolithic funerary monument, constructed from before 3800 BC with new monuments continuing to be built throughout the 4th millennium BC. Where they are precisely dated it appears their primary use for burial rarely lasted longer than about 100 years. Generally comprising long, linear earthen mounds or stone cairns, often flanked by ditches, they can appear as distinctive features in the landscape. They measure up to about 100m in length, 35m in width and 4m in height, and are sometimes trapezoidal or oval in plan. Earthen long barrows are found mostly in southern and eastern England and are usually unchambered, although some examples have been found to contain timber mortuary structures. Regional variation in construction is generally a reflection of locally available resources. Megalithic or stone chambered tombs are most common in Scotland and Wales but are also found in those parts of England with ready access to the large stones and boulders from which they are constructed, especially the Cotswolds, the South-West and Kent. There are around 540 long barrows recorded nationally.
Long barrows of the Lincolnshire Wolds have been identified as a distinct regional grouping of monuments in which the flanking ditches are continued around the ends of the barrow mound, either continuously or broken by a single causeway towards one end. A small number survive as earthworks, but the majority are known from crop marks and soil marks where no or very low mounds are evident on the surface. Not all Lincolnshire long barrows had mounds and our current understanding of Neolithic mortuary practices in this part of the country is that the large barrow mound was in fact the final phase of construction which was not reached by all monuments. Previously many of the sites where only the ditched enclosure is known have been interpreted as a barrow where the mound has been degraded or removed by subsequent agricultural activity. In some cases, the ditched enclosure (mortuary enclosure) represents a monument which never developed a mound.
Cromwell's Grave long barrow is one of the largest and most complete monuments of its kind known in Lincolnshire. It takes its name from the local tradition that it is the burial place of a Roundhead soldier captured and killed on the mound. It was first scheduled in 1934 and amended in 1995. The limited excavation of 1984 has caused minimal disturbance to the monument yet provides valuable information about the construction of the mound and ditches and the chronology of the site's use. Rare and valuable archaeological evidence will be preserved in and under the mound and in the fills of the ditches. Valuable environmental deposits will also survive providing information illustrating the nature of the landscape in which the monument was set.
A probable mortuary enclosure has also been identified 120m south-east of Cromwell Grave's long barrow and is included in the scheduling. Cropmarks revealing the existence of the mortuary enclosure were first identified in 1996 and a geophysical survey was carried out by Heritage Lincolnshire as part of the Lincolnshire Long Barrows Project. The results of the survey confirmed the location and shape of the mortuary enclosure previously recognised from aerial mapping.
Details
Principal Elements
The long barrow survives as a large earthwork and is located to the west of the B1203 Market Rasen – Grimsby Road around 300m west of Hoe Hill Farm. It lies near to the crest of the west-facing slope over the Waithe Beck at approximately 85m AOD. With the land to the south sloping gradually away and then steeply to what may be a now dry watercourse leading to the beck.
The flat site of the mortuary enclosure lies on the valley side just south-south-east of Cromwell's Grave long barrow on a south-west facing slope over Waithe Beck at a height of 88m AOD, approximately 165m south-west of Hoe Hill Farm.
Description
The Neolithic long barrow is visible as an earthwork on 2006-2007 lidar images centred at TF 2148 9530. The feature is defined by a mound aligned east to west with maximum dimensions measuring 20.5m by 56.5m with evidence of a surrounding buried ditch. The barrow mound is preserved within a woodland copse.
The scheduled monument includes the earthwork and buried remains of an Early Neolithic long barrow known as Cromwell's Grave, located around 85m above sea level, 300m west of Hoe Hill Farm, overlooking the Waithe Beck on the gentle, west-facing slope of the Swinhope Valley. It stands to a maximum height of approximately 3m, sloping down from the eastern end. The barrow mound supports a number of beech trees and is situated within a copse enclosed by a field boundary hedge. Archaeological investigation in 1984 confirmed the existence of a quarry ditch around 1.5m deep by 6m wide situated between 4m and 8m from the mound. It further demonstrated that one of the earliest activities on the site was the digging of a marker ditch around 0.6m deep by 1.1m wide running inside the quarry ditch, between 1.3m and 2.9m from the edge of the mound. This marker ditch is considered to be the initial delineation of the area set aside for ritual purposes. Geophysical surveys have indicated that these ditches continue around the western terminal. The section of the quarry ditch which was excavated contained worked flint, pottery, and animal bone from the Neolithic period. A sample of the bone was radiocarbon dated to 3905-3640 BC, confirming the barrow's construction in the Early Neolithic period. Other finds included Beaker pottery, a tanged and barbed arrowhead, and a glass bead. The upper fills of the ditch and the surrounding buried ground surface contained pottery and animal bone from later periods including the Roman, Saxon, and Medieval.
Also included in the scheduling is the mortuary enclosure, confirmed as part of the Lincolnshire long barrows project to be a sub-rectangular shape, aligned north-east to south-west and measuring approximately 68m in length internally. Widths vary between 29m at the north end to 26m towards the south. The encircling ditch has a suggested width of 3m. Along the southern ditch there is a 5m wide opening and in the north-west corner, there is a smaller opening, measuring 3.6m. There are also a number of discrete anomalies within the enclosure, six of which form a semi-circle. These anomalies suggest possible pits or postholes.
The association of Cromwell's Grave and the mortuary enclosure with other similar monuments in the vicinity is of particular significance, posing wider questions about the nature of Neolithic settlement in the area. Together with the scheduled long barrows at Ash Hill (NHLE 1013886), Thorganby (NHLE 1020359) and Ash Holt (NHLE 1013890) the monuments are thought to form a group associated with the valley of the Waithe Beck.
Two round barrows lie just to the north-west within the same field but do not form part of this scheduling.
Extent of Scheduling
The scheduling includes the full extent of the long barrow and the mortuary enclosure plus 5m buffer zones around them considered necessary for the support and preservation of the monuments.
