Using the GPS co-ordinates from TMA I took myself off to Felton Common in search of this Longbarrow. The GPS guided me to roughly the position as suggested, and after the best part of what seemed like an half mile walk through scrubland, I couldn't see anything about so a little searching led me too what I can only think is, or was, a derelict Longbarrow. IF this is the longbarrow, and I've every reason to believe it is, then it's probably in one of the worse conditions I have seen. The stones that are in the field would have made for a large Longbarrow in it's day. Felton Common is quite large and seems to be favourite for dog walkers. it's not a place where you should go to far out of your way to see though.
I will go back oneday because the common hold a secret that very few people probably know, until now, in that it's a very good place to watch planes landing because one is directly under the flight paths of very low incoming planes. Now what can be better to waste some time on than that!!!
It seems that this is not just your run-of-the-mill long barrow, but actually an example of an Oval Barrow: a rather rarer beast. There are only about 50 in England and this is one of only two in the Avon region. They are very old and originate from the early to middle Neolithic.
The description in EH's scheduled monument record (via Magic) says that the large stones (no doubt those in Vulcan's photo) at the northern end of the N-S mound are probably the remains of a burial chamber. (Smaller stones are interpreted as field clearance from the second world war period).
Other oval barrows that have been excavated have produced two different types of burials - bodies of adults and children laid directly on the ground before the mound was raised, and those of one or two adults laid in a pit beneath the centre of the mound. It's been discovered that some oval barrows were raised over still earlier monuments. The ditches around the barrows often contain deliberately placed pottery, flintwork and bone too, so it's clear that the spots were a focus for the community over a very long period of time.
Log in |
Register
England
0 discussions
Show map (inline Google Map)
Add an image 
Posted by Rhiannon
Top of page