Text by Tim Darvill

Excavated in 1934-5, Notgrove Long Barrow became a favourite long barrow to visit in the following decades. However, in 1974, following deterioration of the stone-work, the site was covered with soil to protect it. The result is a very strange-looking mound. Set high on an exposed area of upland, it is, however, possible to experience something of its place in the landscape.

Notgrove Long Barrow. Image © The Douglas Campbell Photo Collection.

Notgrove Long Barrow plan. Image by Vanessa Constant.

Notgrove Long Barrow plan in Google Earth. Illustration by Vanessa Constant.

Originally, the Notgrove long barrow was a very typical example and became the type-site for those with a terminal chamber in which the cells were set in a transepted arrangement. There was a neat trapezoidal mound 48m long by 24m wide at the east end. A forecourt flanked by small horns opened to the east, in the back of which was the entrance to a central passage giving access to four side chambers (two on each side) and a small end chamber.

Excavations yielded the remains of at least six adults in the chambers, together with fragmentary remains of children. Amongst the finds from the chamber was a fine black shale bead. Below the long barrow was an earlier round barrow or rotunda grave with a central cist containing a single adult male.

Directions

SP 0959 2119. 7km E ofAndoversford, 6km W of Bourton-on-the-Water. Situated immediately S of the B4068 (formerly A436) NW of Notgrove village. English Heritage. Finds in Cheltenham Museum.

Further reading: Crawford 1925, 116-18 (C41); Clifford 1936.

Long Barrows of the Cotswolds and surrounding areas – Tim Darvill