The Soulton Long Barrow and Ritual Landscape is a modern memorial in the form of a

long barrow Long barrows are a style of monument constructed across Western Europe in the fifth and fourth millennia BCE, during the Early Neolithic period. Typically constructed from earth and either timber or stone, those using the latter material repres ...

in the Soulton landscape near

Wem Wem may refer to: * HMS ''Wem'' (1919), a WWI Royal Navy minesweeper * Weem, a village in Perthshire, Scotland * Wem, a small town in Shropshire, England * Wem (musician), hip hop musician WEM may stand for: * County Westmeath County Westmeat ...

Shropshire Shropshire (; abbreviated SalopAlso used officially as the name of the county from 1974–1980. The demonym for inhabitants of the county "Salopian" derives from this name.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West M ...

, England. The barrow contains niches for the placement of

cremation Cremation is a method of Disposal of human corpses, final disposition of a corpse through Combustion, burning. Cremation may serve as a funeral or post-funeral rite and as an alternative to burial. In some countries, including India, Nepal, and ...

urns. It is also intended for wider celebration of life and community activity. The structure is a sequence of stone chambers under an earthen mound, and was begun in 2017, with a principal stone being laid in the spring of 2018, and an early stone being added by writer and historian

Tom Holland Thomas Stanley Holland (born 1 June 1996) is an English actor. The recipient of numerous accolades, including a BAFTA Award, he featured on the ''Forbes'' 30 Under 30 Europe list of 2019. Some publications have called him one of the most ...

Inspiration

The monument is inspired by

Neolithic The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Ancient Greek, Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revo ...

barrows built around 5,500 years ago, and following the constructions of the Long Barrow at All Cannings, Wiltshire and the Willow Row Barrow at

St Neots St NeotsPronunciation of the town name: Most commonly, but variations that ''saint'' is said as in most English non-georeferencing speech, the ''t'' is by a small minority of the British pronounced and higher traces of in the final syllable ...

, Cambridgeshire. It takes inspiration from among other monuments

Bryn Celli Ddu Bryn Celli Ddu () is a prehistoric site on the Wales, Welsh island of Anglesey located near Llanddaniel Fab. Its Welsh placenames, name means 'the mound in the dark grove'. It was archaeologically excavated between 1928 and 1929. Visitors can ge ...

Barclodiad y Gawres ; ) is a Neolithic burial chamber between Rhosneigr and Aberffraw on the south-western coast of the island of Anglesey in North Wales. It is an example of a cruciform passage grave, a notable feature being its decorated stones. Similar grav ...

, and Stoney Littleton Long Barrow. Developing the barrow involved collaboration with archaeologists at the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

The gate for the barrow was designed by Giles Smith, winner, in the Assemble Collective, of the 2015

Turner Prize The Turner Prize, named after the English painter J. M. W. Turner, is an annual prize presented to a British visual artist. Between 1991 and 2016, only artists under the age of 50 were eligible (this restriction was removed for the 2017 award). ...

. The Barrow's first chamber was opened for use in summer 2018. A second phase of the barrow's development was begun and completed in the winter of 2019.

Commentary

In April 2019, the monument was covered on an episode of BBC Countryfile, being visited by

Matt Baker Matthew James Baker (born 23 December 1977) is a British television presenter. He co-presented the children's television show ''Blue Peter'' from 1999 until 2006, BBC One's '' Countryfile'' since 2009 and ''The One Show'' from 2011 to 2020, wi ...

and Ellie Harrison. The monument was included in the 2020 Architecture Foundation exhibition "Congregation", in

St Mary Magdalene, Paddington St Mary Magdalene, Paddington, is a Grade I listed Anglican church at Rowington Close, London, dedicated to Jesus' follower, Saint Mary Magdalene. The parish was established in 1865 and work on the church started in 1867. Although complete in , ...

. The exhibition looked at, "the changing nature of sacred architecture in Britain through the presentation of 23 buildings designed in the past decade", Edwin Heathcote of the ''

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and also published digitally that focuses on business and economic Current affairs (news format), current affairs. Based in London, the paper is owned by a Jap ...

'' reviewed this exhibition and said of the project "Most esoteric of all, yet also strangely sympathetic, is the Soulton Long Barrow, a neo-neolithic mound of stone and earth designed to store the cremated remains of... any religion or none". In June 2020 the Architecture Foundation included the monument in a lecture event as part of its 2020 100 Day Studio event. Commentators have described this barrow has been described as being part of a "Stone Age tradition being resurrected in Britain," with " other eight sites are planned across the country" The

Architectural Review ''The Architectural Review'' is a monthly international architectural magazine. It has been published in London since 1896. Its articles cover the built environment – which includes landscape, building design, interior design and urbanism � ...

reviewed the monument in April 2020.

Culture and cultural references

Contemporary drama and performance

In 2020, partially as a response to the crisis in live performance and theatre resulting from the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, a hengeiform monument, called "The Sanctuary", an outdoor performance area was added in front of the barrow. This was inaugurated by the

National Youth Theatre The National Youth Theatre of Great Britain (NYT) is a youth theatre and charity in London, created with the aim of developing young people's artistic skills via theatrical productions and other creative endeavours. Founded in 1956 as the world ...

, with their first live in person performance since the restrictions following the lockdown that was brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. The play was a brand new work called "The Last Harvest".

Literature and poetry

The barrow has inspired writing, including a novella series by Katharine E. Smith, which begins with ''First Christmas.'' The poet Merlin Fulcher has also written work inspired by the barrow.

Faith and religious activities

Local parishes used this space for community nativity events during the COVID-19 restrictions.

Soulton Standing Stones

There is a sequence of

standing stones A menhir (; from Brittonic languages: ''maen'' or ''men'', "stone" and ''hir'' or ''hîr'', "long"), standing stone, orthostat, or lith is a large upright stone, emplaced in the ground by humans, typically dating from the European middle Br ...

, signaling the route to the barrow from Soulton Road. Three

megalith A megalith is a large stone that has been used to construct a prehistoric structure or monument, either alone or together with other stones. More than 35,000 megalithic structures have been identified across Europe, ranging geographically f ...

limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...

are located on the access route to the barrow which were added in autumn 2017. The stone for these

monolith A monolith is a geological feature consisting of a single massive stone or rock, such as some mountains. Erosion usually exposes the geological formations, which are often made of very hard and solid igneous or metamorphic rock. Some monolit ...

s, as with the barrow itself, came from Churchfield Quarry,

Oundle Oundle () is a market town and civil parish on the left bank of the River Nene in North Northamptonshire, England, which had a population of 6,254 at the time of the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 census. It is north of London and south-wes ...

, near

Peterborough Peterborough ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in the City of Peterborough district in the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Cambridgeshire, England. The city is north of London, on the River Nene. A ...

. There is no deliberate alignment beyond way-marking for these standing stones.

Covid Stone

In 2020, a standing stone, with an alignment to the setting sun on the

winter solstice The winter solstice, or hibernal solstice, occurs when either of Earth's geographical pole, poles reaches its maximum axial tilt, tilt away from the Sun. This happens twice yearly, once in each hemisphere (Northern Hemisphere, Northern and So ...

, was added to the ritual landscape to acknowledge the suffering of the families impacted by the

Coronavirus Pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. This was discussed in a podcast for Manchester Metropolitan University's BRIC-19 AHRC-funded research project looking at how British ritual-makers have responded to COVID-19.

Modern Henge Monument

In March 2020, plans were announced to build a modern henge monument close by the barrow.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Official website

BBC Coverage of the first chamber nearing completion
Buildings and structures in Shropshire Barrows in England COVID-19 pandemic monuments and memorials