Surveying Lincolnshire’s Long Barrows

Staff from APS and Heritage Lincolnshire are currently working alongside Historic England on an exciting project examining the Neolithic Long Barrows of Lincolnshire. Long barrows are the earliest built burial places in the English Landscape constructed from earth, wood and stone around 5,000 years ago and some 100 are known in the county. There are many well-known examples with evocative names like ‘Giant’s Hills’, ‘Cromwell’s Grave’ and ‘Deadman’s Graves’.

With a high concentration of these funerary monuments, the Lincolnshire Wolds are a good place to spot the most visibly remaining examples, subtly rising from the landscape and often holding commanding views over the valleys below. The 2-year project intends to accurately map, better understand and preserve these fascinating aspects of our prehistoric past for future generations. 

The image is of Spellow Hills, a well-known long barrow in East Lindsey, Lincolnshire.  Heavily disturbed and truncated by antiquarian excavations, much of archaeological value still remains relating to its date, form, function and its relationship with the surrounding landscape.