Rodmarton Long Barrow, Gloucestershire

Following the recent news that Rodmarton Long Barrow has become the latest Neolithic monument in Gloucestershire to suffer vandalism (Uley Long Barrow's internal gallery was closed and later restored by English Heritage last year), I decided to grab my camera and notebook, and to head over to check out how the site is doing.

Some context

Rodmarton Long Barrow sits within a landscape of gentle, rolling Cotswold slopes. It does not crest a high point in the landscape as the nearby Uley and Nympsfield long barrows do. These two were constructed upon the very edge of the Cotswold escarpment, where they are easily seen from the lowlands below: between the escarpment and river Severn.

Excavations in 1863, 1939, and further investigation in 1988 following the falling of two of the site's beech trees, have revealed three side chambers, and a 'false portal' entrance and forecourt (as at Belas Knap Long Barrow).
So far, thirteen skeletons have been recovered from the barrow's stone-lined chambers, as well as leaf-shaped arrowheads.

The barrow is aligned north-east~south-west, with the broader and taller end to the north-east.

The barrow today

The barrow, or its remnants, are in a fairly ruinous state. Clearly, the most significant crime of vandalism visited upon the site happened at the hands of the Victorian antiquaries, who conducted some pretty aggressive excavations here, leaving a scarred and pocketed monument behind them. The English Heritage information board generously describes this in terms of being 'crudely examined'.

At the broader, north-eastern end can be found the now-exposed remains of the barrow's 'false portal' and forecourt. Though exposed, the stones are in a good condition and, unlike at Uley Long Barrow, have not been engraved or marked with soot.

Today, the barrow shares the site with several beech trees and with a relatively modern Cotswold stone wall - perhaps once used to bound the barrow from the field in which it sits, before English Heritage extended the site's boundary to protect its edges.

Recent damage

Fortunately, the only recent damage appears to have been to the (modern) Cotswold stone walling set into the edge of the barrow; though the previously visible and accessible northern chamber appears to have been filled in and turfed over, so perhaps there was some damage to the site here also.

Further reading

Saville, A. 1989 'Rodmarton Long Barrow, Gloucestershire' - a free PDF of the account of Saville's investigation of the site, following the falling of two substantial beech trees on the barrow, can be found here.

Field, D. 2006 Earthen Long Barrows - view on Amazon.co.uk

Smith, M. & Brickley M. 2009 People of the Long Barrows: Life, Death and Burial in the Earlier Neolithic - view on Amazon.co.uk

The English Heritage webpage for Rodmarton Long Barrow can be found here.

Further details on the archaeology of the site can be found in Tim Darvill's summary on the excellent Digital Digging website, here.



(Declaration of interest: I curate the publishing list for the titles above for which I have provided Amazon links.)

Acknowledgements

The photographs above are my own, though the aerial shot is from Google Earth and the plan of the barrow comes from Saville's 'Rodmarton Long Barrow, Gloucestershire' report.