Badshot Lea Long Barrow
Badshot Lea Long Barrow, also known as Farnham Long Barrow, was an unchambered long barrow found near the village of Badshot Lea in Surrey. It was probably constructed in the fourth millennium BC, during Britain's Early Neolithic period.
Archaeologists have established that the monument was built by pastoralist communities shortly after the introduction of agriculture to Britain from continental Europe. Although representing part of an architectural tradition of long barrow building that was widespread across Neolithic Europe, the Badshot Lea Long Barrow is the only known example in Surrey. The nearest examples are the Medway Megaliths, clustered around the River Medway in Kent, and the long barrows of Sussex.
Built out of earth, the long barrow consisted of a tumulus flanked by side ditches. A timber post was embedded into the eastern end of the mound. By the mid-1930s, chalk quarrying adjacent to the long barrow had destroyed much of its southern side. In 1936, local resident W. F. Rankine discovered ox bones and stone arrow-heads in the vicinity of the site. An excavation was launched under the directorship of Alexander Keiller and Stuart Piggott, who sought to investigate the remains of the long barrow before it was destroyed by further quarrying.
Location
- Location map: 51°13’27"N, 0°46’7"W
The Badshot Lea Long Barrow, which has also been called the Farnham Long Barrow,[1] was located near to Badshot Farm in the parish of Runfold, Surrey. Standing on the western end of the Hog's Back ridge,[2] it was on a slope of Upper Chalk overlooking the Blackwater Gravels below.[3] It stood at approximately 280 feet above sea level.[4]
Archaeology
In 1987, the archaeologists David Field and Jonathan Cotton stated Badshot Lea Long Barrow was "the most impressive Neolithic feature yet located within the historic county" of Surrey.[3] There are few known Neolithic monuments in Surrey, with most information about the area during the Neolithic period deriving from discoveries of worked flint scatters.[5]
Archaeologists believe that the primary importance of Badshot Lea Long Barrow is its location, isolated from other known examples of long barrows. The nearest known long barrows are at Freefolk (22 miles to the west), Hinton Ampner (20 miles to the west/southwest), Old Winchester Hill (22 miles to the west/southwest) and Up Marden (21 miles to the west/southwest).[6] The next nearest group are the Medway Megaliths, a cluster of chambered long barrows in northwest Kent, which are located approximately 55 miles away. The archaeologist Ronald Jessup suggested that the North Downs Trackway might have served as a link between these different locations.[2] Three earthen long barrows—Julliberrie's Grave, Jacket's Field Long Barrow, and Shrub's Wood Long Barrow—are also found near the River Stour in Kent, approximately 75 miles from the Badshot Lea Long Barrow.[7] The archaeologist Ian Kinnes classed the Badshot Lea example alongside the Preston Candover Long Barrow in Hampshire as the two known examples located on the North Downs.[8]
Outside links
- Megalithic Portal: Badshot Lea Long Barrow
- Badshot Lea Long Barrow at Exploring Surrey's Past
References
- ↑ Field & Cotton 1987, p. 81.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Jessup 1970, p. 81.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Field & Cotton 1987, p. 79.
- ↑ Field & Cotton 1987, p. 133.
- ↑ Field & Cotton 1987, p. 71.
- ↑ Keiller & Piggott 1939, pp. 139-140.
- ↑ Field & Cotton 1987, p. 80.
- ↑ Kinnes 1992, p. 13.
Bibliography
- Ashbee, Paul (1970). The Earthen Long Barrow in Britain. London: J. M. Bent and Sons. ISBN 978-0460077552.
- Field, David; Cotton, Jonathan (1987). "Neolithic Surrey: A Survey of the Evidence". in Joanna Bird. The Archaeology of Surrey to 1540. Guildford: Surrey Archaeological Society. pp. 71–96. ISBN 978-0950134567.
- Grinsell, Leslie V. (1953). The Ancient Burial-Mounds of England (second ed.). London: Methuen & Co..
- Hutton, Ronald (1991). The Pagan Religions of the Ancient British Isles: Their Nature and Legacy. Oxford and Cambridge: Blackwell. ISBN 978-0-631-17288-8. https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780631172888.
- Hutton, Ronald (2013). Pagan Britain. New Haven and London: Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-197716.
- Jessup, Ronald F. (1970). South-East England. London: Thames and Hudson. ISBN 978-0500020685. https://archive.org/details/southeastengland0000jess.
- Keiller, Alexander; Piggott, Stuart (1939). "Badshot Long Barrow (Report on the Excavations)". in Oakley, K. P.. A Survey of the Prehistory of the Farnham District (Surrey). Guildford: Surrey Archaeological Society. pp. 133–152.
- Kinnes, Ian (1992). Non-Megalithic Long Barrows and Allied Structures in the British Neolithic. British Museum Occasional Papers No. 52. London: British Museum. ISBN 978-0861590520.
- Malone, Caroline (2001). Neolithic Britain and Ireland. Stroud: Tempus. ISBN 0-7524-1442-9.
