Long barrow at Foulmire Fen, Haddenahm

History of Long Barrow at Foulmire Fen

Listed monument on Heritage at Risk Register

The monument includes a long barrow at Foulmire Fen situated approximately 140m north west of the junction of Back and Small Fen Drove. It is part of an alignment of three long barrows, the other two of which are the subject of separate schedulings. The long barrow has been covered by later deposits of marine clay and peat, from which the crown emerges and has been exposed by modern ploughing. Underlying the fen deposits is a trapezoidal mound, aligned north east to south west, which is 1.2m high, 50m long, 16m wide at its east end and 11m at its west end, as partial excavation between 1985 and 1987 demonstrated. Surrounding the mound is a berm approximately 4m wide and an infilled ditch up to 5m wide and 1.5m deep, from which earth was dug in the construction of the mound. The ditch contains waterlogged deposits, sealed by a layer of marine clay deposited shortly after the construction of the long barrow.