Details

The monument includes a long barrow situated upon a spur on Bere Down,
overlooking the Bere valley to the south.
The long barrow has a mound, aligned north east by south west, composed of
flint, earth and chalk. The mound, which has maximum dimensions of 55m in
length, 24m in width and about 0.5m-0.75m in height, is associated with five
sarsen blocks which were revealed during the course of ploughing operations.
The sarsen stones were identified within the central and southern areas of the
mound and may relate to an inner chamber.
The mound is flanked on either side by a ditch from which material was
quarried during the construction of the monument. The ditches have become
infilled over the years, although the southern example is visible as a terrace
14m wide, running parallel to the length of the mound.
The long barrow later became incorporated within a prehistoric field boundary
and lynchets are known to have run up to the mound. The field system has since
been levelled by ploughing.

MAP EXTRACT
The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract.
It includes a 2 metre boundary around the archaeological features,
considered to be essential for the monument's support and preservation.

Source: Historic England

Reasons for Scheduling

Long barrows were constructed as earthen or drystone mounds with flanking
ditches and acted as funerary monuments during the Early and Middle Neolithic
periods (3400-2400 BC). They represent the burial places of Britain's early
farming communities and, as such, are amongst the oldest field monuments
surviving visibly in the present landscape. Where investigated, long barrows
appear to have been used for communal burial, often with only parts of the
human remains having been selected for interment. Certain sites provide
evidence for several phases of funerary monument preceding the barrow and,
consequently, it is probable that long barrows acted as important ritual sites
for local communities over a considerable period of time. Some 500 examples of
long barrows and long cairns, their counterparts in the uplands, are recorded
nationally. As one of the few types of Neolithic structure to survive as
earthworks, and due to their comparative rarity, their considerable age and
their longevity as a monument type, all long barrows are considered to be
nationally important.

Despite some reduction by ploughing, the long barrow on Bere Down, 1100m north
east of Roke Barn survives comparatively well and will contain archaeological
and environmental evidence relating to the monument and the landscape in which
it was constructed.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset: Volume I, (1970), 431
Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset: Volume I, (1970), 431
Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset: Volume I, (1970), 431
Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset: Volume I, (1970), 431

Source: Historic England