There is quite a barrow cemetery here - though I expect there's little to see on the ground. Though there has been some ploughing, the interesting thing is that the barrows are largely intact, protected under the layers of fen peat and clays that have been lain down over them. So underneath these layers the barrows are very nicely preserved, including their surrounding ditches. The westernmost barrow was partly excavated in 1985, and showed that it was started as a low ovoid mound in the Middle to Late Neolithic, and was modified over the years, being used up to the middle of the Bronze age.
The SMR on MAGIC also mentions a Neolithic causewayed enclosure about a kilometre to the south, which perhaps was a focus for these barrows.
There is also an alignment of three Neolithic longbarrows to the north east, which are similarly well preserved by the marshy and silty conditions of the fen. They were located on gravel terraces or islands of the Great Ouse, which would have flowed nearer to the barrows in prehistoric times.
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Posted by Rhiannon
10th December 2003ce
Edited 10th December 2003ce
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