Prehistoric Dorset (The Neolithic Long Barrows)

  Dorset contains many excellent examples of Neolithic Long Barrows. Long Barrows were multiple burial monuments associated with the first farming communities, long earthen mounds sometimes covering a wooden mortuary enclosure or building, and sometimes a stone chamber or chambers.  There are differing interpretations of use and function, as individual sites throw up a variety of clues. They could represent the tombs of important families, maybe 2 or 3 generations. They could represent statements on land tenure. They could represent broader communal burials, with some having contained 50 or more  sets of remains. There is evidence of bones being reused and replace, maybe a form of ancestor worship. Or, it could be all of the above or something completely different. That's both the frustration and joy of prehistory. What I can say is, they took considerable effort and resources to build, and so must have been important to those constructing them.

Top is all that remains of the Long Barrow at West Compton, set on a high exposed ridge, the mound is all but gone and only 2 stone remain (or at remain visible). Increasingly when I visit sites I see the plough creeping closer and closer, here the area where the mound and ditches would have been is under the plough, probably destroyed, erased from the archaeological record (solemnly shakes head) rather than retained and the stones sit in isolation and increasingly out of any context. Still, it's a nice site to visit.

Next, is the Grey Mare and her Colts, the best preserved Long Barrow in Dorset (for stone setting at least, there are Barrows with more complete mounds, and probably some undisturbed). Set on the Dorset Ridgeway (an area crammed with prehistoric remains), you can see a considerable distance in all directions. Much of the mound has disappeared, and the burial chamber has collapsed in on itself, though some of the uprights of the large stone façade remain standing and evidence of a possible surrounding stone kerb are visible. Excavated in the 19th century, the chamber yielded quantities of human bone and some Neolithic pottery.  A really nice site to visit.

Finally, the Hell Stone. Again on the Ridgeway, the Hell Stone is a bit of an anomaly as it has clearly suffered from a 'romantic' restoration in the late 19th century, making it great visually, although in no way reflecting its original appearance.  A cluster of large upright stones support a substantial cap stone, there is also evidence of a long mound, although this is truncated and very eroded.  Again, this is a really nice site to visit and even if it doesn't reflect the original form, it is a Neolithic Long Barrow site.