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Severn-cotswold Tomb




They consist of precisely-built, long trapezoid earth mounds covering a burial chamber. Because of this they are a type of Chambered Long Barrow . In some examples, pairs of smaller burial chambers lead off from either side of the central rectangular burial chamber, itself connected to an anteroom. In others the entrance is a false entrance with the burial chambers accessed laterally from directly outside. A third group have merely a single large chamber.

Tombs of this type are concentrated in the Cotswolds but extend as far as Gower and Avebury with some isolated examples in North Wales . Tombs of all three types are generally evenly distributed and it has been theorised that the design evolved over time. Severn-Cotswold tombs share certain features with the Transepted Gallery Grave s of the Loire and may have been inspired by these, with the lateral chambers and other differences being local variations.

In the 1960 s and 1970 s Dr John Corcoran and others argued that the group in fact consisted of three contemporary types and later excavations have supported this.

Examples include Wayland's Smithy and West Kennet Long Barrow .