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Haddenham Barrows

Barrow / Cairn Cemetery

Nearest Town:St Ives (Cambridgeshire) (11km WSW)
OS Ref (GB):   TL40817489 / Sheets: 142, 143
Latitude:52° 21' 12.65" N
Longitude:   0° 4' 3.9" E

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Links to the Scheduled Monument records through the MAGIC website:

http://magic.defra.gov.uk/rsm/33376.pdf
http://magic.defra.gov.uk/rsm/33366.pdf
http://magic.defra.gov.uk/rsm/33363.pdf
Posted by TMA Ed
26th March 2012ce

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.
Rhiannon Posted by Rhiannon
10th December 2003ce
Edited 10th December 2003ce

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British Archaeology


An article from 1999 by Mary Baxter, who excavated one of the long barrows. Neolithic people didn't just bury their dead and leave them in peace - they moved them around and maybe even took parts to be buried elsewhere.
Rhiannon Posted by Rhiannon
28th May 2004ce
Edited 28th May 2004ce