MSO6879 - Longcombe Barrow (Monument)

A possible Bronze Age round barrow, marked as Longcombe Burrow on a map of 1819, is no longer visible and may have been robbed for the construction of a 19th Century boundary wall. Two sites for the barrow have been suggested.

SS 804433 (approx) Exmoor 27, Longcombe Burrow shown on map of 1819 [2]. If correctly marked it is on the Exmoor/Oare boundary, but Exmoor 11 (MSO6863) is not far away. [1] In the perambulation of September 1815 the boundary is described as proceeding in "an easterly direction along several Boundary Stones through a place called Lannicombe Burrows (MSO6880) to a Boundary Stone in the centre of a Burrow called Long Comb Burrow" [2]. The barrow is shown on a map of 1816 on the Oare Common boundary about halfway between Badgworthy Water and Toms Hill Corner [3] but MacDermot states that it has "entirely vanished" [2]. The material was probably used during construction of the forest wall (a wall around the boundary of the former Exmoor Forest was constructed in 1820-4). [2,3] The 1962 Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division map suggests two sites for the barrow; SS 801 432 and SS 804 432, annotated "mid C19 wall crosses indicated positions. No trace of any barrows." [4] This record was enhanced as part of the National Record of the Historic Environment to Exmoor National Park Historic Environment Record data transfer project. [5]