Monument record MDO5135 - Long barrow on Little or Luton Down, Tarrant Rawston

In 1972 this monument was described as a slightly wedge shaped earthwork with well-defined side ditches. The mound was about 138 feet long, 60 feet wide at its widest point and 6½ feet high. An inconclusive excavation in 1896 yielded only two sherds (presumably of pottery) and three pieces of bone. The record for this monument has been enhanced with support from Wessex Water. The long barrow is visible as a wedge shaped banked earthwork with two substantial side ditches on 1940s aerial photographs and on Environment Agency lidar imagery and was digitally plotted during the Dorset Middle Stour AIM Project.

The long barrow is visible as a wedge shaped banked earthwork with two substantial side ditches on 1940s aerial photographs and on Environment Agency lidar imagery and was digitally plotted during the Dorset Middle Stour AIM Project [4, 5].

<1> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1897, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Antiquarian Field Club, 36-50 (Serial). SDO11.

<2> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1972, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume IV (North), 111-112 (Monograph). SDO99.

'(6) LONG BARROW (91560667), in the extreme W. of the parish, lies some 340ft. above O.D. on the N.E. crest of a chalk ridge, with which it is parallel in an orientation of 327°. The barrow is slightly wedge-shaped, 138ft. long, 60ft. wide at the S.E. end, 50ft wide at the N.W. end and 6½ ft. high. Well defined side ditches are 30ft. To 35ft. wide and up to 3ft. deep. An inconclusive excavation in 1896 yielded only two sherds and three pieces of bone (Dorset Procs., XVIII (1897), pp. xxxiv and I; O.S., Map of Neolithic Wessex, No. 156.'

<3> Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey 1:10,000 scale map, 1976 (Map). SDO17396.

(ST 91550667) Long Barrow (NR)

<4> Royal Air Force, 01-JAN-1948, RAF/CPE/UK/2431 RS 4320 (Aerial Photograph). SDO18501.

<5> Environment Agency, 16-NOV-2021, LIDAR Environment Agency DTM (Aerial Photograph). SDO18034.

<6> Royal Commission on Historic Monuments, Externally held archive: RCH01/097 RCHME Inventory: Dorset IV (North) (Unpublished document). SDO17498.

<7> National Record of the Historic Environment, 209347 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Oct 7 2024 3:46PM