Bank barrow
# Bank barrow

A bank barrow, sometimes referred to as a barrow-bank, ridge barrow, or ridge mound, is a type of tumulus first identified by O.G.S. Crawford in 1938.

In the United Kingdom, these take the form of a long, sinuous, parallel-sided mound, approximately uniform in height and width along its length, and usually flanked by ditches on either side. They may be the result of a single phase of construction, or be the result of the addition of one or more linear extensions to the bank of a pre-existing barrow. Although burials have been found within the mound, no burial chambers as such have been identified in bank barrows. These ancient monuments are of middle Neolithic date.

Fewer than ten bank barrows remain in the United Kingdom. Examples may be found at

* Maiden Castle, Broadmayne and Martin's Down in Dorset; and
* Long Low near Wetton in Staffordshire.

## References and further reading

* Ashbee, Paul (1984). The Earthen Long Barrow in Britain: An Introduction to the Study of the Funerary Practice and Culture of the Neolithic People of the Third Millennium B.C. Geo Books. ISBN 0-86094-170-1.
* Sharples, Niall M (1991). English Heritage Book of Maiden Castle. B. T. Batsford Ltd. ISBN 0-7134-6083-0.
