Nympsfield Long Barrow (geograph 1040823)

Nympsfield Long Barrow is the remains of a

Neolithic The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several p ...

burial site Burial, also known as interment or inhumation, is a method of final disposition whereby a dead body is placed into the ground, sometimes with objects. This is usually accomplished by excavating a pit or trench, placing the deceased and objec ...

or barrow, located close to the village of

Nympsfield Nympsfield is a village and civil parish in the English county of Gloucestershire. It is located around four miles south-west of the town of Stroud. As well as Nympsfield village, the parish contains the hamlet of Cockadilly. The population take ...

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of Gl ...

South West England South West England, or the South West of England, is one of nine official regions of England. It consists of the counties of Bristol, Cornwall (including the Isles of Scilly), Dorset, Devon, Gloucestershire, Somerset and Wiltshire. Cities ...

. It lies at the edge of a woods, and is now the location of a picnic site. It is one of the earliest examples of a barrow with separate chambers. It was constructed around 2800 BCE. It is a Scheduled Monument (number 22857) in the guardianship of

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses. The charity states that i ...

. Many of the finds from excavations at this site are now in the Gloucester City Museum.

Location

Nympsfield Long Barrow is sited to the southeast of the

B4066 road B roads are numbered routes in Great Britain of lesser importance than A roads. See the article Great Britain road numbering scheme The Great Britain road numbering scheme is a numbering scheme used to classify and identify all roads in Gr ...

, around southwest of Stroud, and approximately west of

Cirencester Cirencester (, ; see below for more variations) is a market town in Gloucestershire, England, west of London. Cirencester lies on the River Churn, a tributary of the River Thames, and is the largest town in the Cotswolds. It is the home of ...

within

Coaley Peak Coaley Peak is a picnic site and viewpoint in the England, English county of Gloucestershire. Located about south-west of the town of Stroud, Gloucestershire, Stroud overlooking the village of Coaley, Coaley Peak offers of reclaimed farmland ( ...

Country Park. The

tumulus A tumulus (plural tumuli) is a mound of earth and stones raised over a grave or graves. Tumuli are also known as barrows, burial mounds or ''kurgans'', and may be found throughout much of the world. A cairn, which is a mound of stones bu ...

is no longer visible. In common with other barrows in the area it lies on the edge of a scarp of

Jurassic The Jurassic ( ) is a geologic period and stratigraphic system that spanned from the end of the Triassic Period million years ago (Mya) to the beginning of the Cretaceous Period, approximately Mya. The Jurassic constitutes the middle period of ...

oolitic (egg stone)

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

Layout

Nympsfield Long Barrow (geograph 1901274)

The barrow is in size and overall trapezoidal in shape. There is evidence of curving walls behind the east entrance, which leads into a square forecourt area, opening onto a central passage. Three chambers lead off this passage, two larger chambers to either side and one small one to the end, divided off by constricting stones to restrict access. A small part of the north chamber was separated off to form a

cist A cist ( or ; also kist ; from grc-gre, κίστη, Middle Welsh ''Kist'' or Germanic ''Kiste'') is a small stone-built coffin-like box or ossuary used to hold the bodies of the dead. Examples can be found across Europe and in the Middle Ea ...

. The long axis of the barrow is orientated in a southeast to northwest direction.

History of excavation

The barrow has been excavated on three separate occasions, in 1862 by Buckman with the Cotteswold Naturalist's Field Club, in 1937 by E. M. Clifford and in 1974 by A. Saville. Twenty three bodies were discovered within the site. The remains of cremated children were placed in a separate cist. It was noted that the majority had common medical problems including infections in the mouth and gums, and abscesses. It is believed that, following interment, the bodies were left for a predetermined length of time, before a specific event took place, where the tomb was sealed over permanently. Haematite was found in the mound, possibly used as face-paint to make the dead appear alive. The digs uncovered the remains of fires, and pig bones, within the forecourt, indicating that ritualized meals were eaten, during burial ceremonies. Some dog bones were also uncovered on the site, but it is uncertain whether they age back to the original site, or from a later date. At the time of the first excavation, Nympsfield was thought to be unique in being the only chambered barrow in which bones from birds had been discovered, although several other such sites have now been discovered, such as the

Tomb of the Eagles The Tomb of the Eagles, or Isbister Chambered Cairn, is a Neolithic chambered tomb located on a cliff edge at Isbister on South Ronaldsay in Orkney, Scotland. The site was discovered by Ronald Simison, a farmer, when digging flagstones in 1958; ...

in the Orkney Islands. A leaf-shaped arrow-head and shards of pottery were also discovered. Two reconstructed vessels, a bowl and a necked jar, have been attributed to Ebbsfleet ware.

Quartz Quartz is a hard, crystalline mineral composed of silica ( silicon dioxide). The atoms are linked in a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon-oxygen tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tetrahedra, giving an overall chemical ...

pebbles were noted amongst the blocking deposits at both ends of the mound. This is a common feature of many long barrows in the Cotswold-Severn Group, in north Wales and northern and central Ireland and is thought to have a symbolic meaning. Nympsfield Long Barrow is part of the Cotswold–Severn group of monuments. It is similar in layout to the chambered tombs of

Uley Uley is a village and civil parish in the county of Gloucestershire, England. The parish includes the hamlets of Elcombe and Shadwell and Bencombe, all to the south of the village of Uley, and the hamlet of Crawley to the north. The village i ...

and Notgrove. It lies close to the so-called "Soldier's Grave" round barrow. The site was also occupied in both the

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age ( Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age ( Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostl ...

and

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

times.

References

External links

History and Research on Nympsfield barrow
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{{Long Barrows in Britain Archaeological sites in Gloucestershire Barrows in England English Heritage sites in Gloucestershire Stone Age Britain