Mottistone Long Stone Neolithic Burial Mound

Long Stone

Standing alone on the south-facing slope of a hill overlooking the National Trust's Mottistone Gardens stands the Long Stone (alternatively called Longstone), all that remains of a 6,000-year-old Neolithic long barrow.

The much-damaged burial mound is laid out on an east-west alignment, with a pair of stones at the eastern end, facing the rising sun.

Two stones remain; one standing and one recumbent. The standing stone is roughly 4m high and 2m wide, while the recumbent stone is smaller at 3m long and 1.2m wide. Both stones are of greensand sandstone, probably quarried less than 100m away.

The smaller recumbent stone

The Burial Mound

The burial mound measures 31m in length and 9m in width, tapering as it does towards the west. It is 1m high at the eastern end and falls to 0.2m high at the narrower western end. To the north of the mound is a ditch measuring 0.2m deep and 3m wide. A matching ditch to the south is now buried.

The burial mound was not meant for a single individual, as modern graves are, but was used to bury members of a Neolithic community. Bodies of the dead were probably laid out to allow carrion to strip the bones of flesh.

When the bones were exposed, they were gathered up and buried in chambers cut into the mound's sides, after which earth was heaped over the chambers.

Looking along the burial mound

The name Mottistone suggests that Long Stone, or Longstone, was used as a 'moot stone' or meeting place during the Saxon period, when the local 'hundred' gathered here.

The long barrow remained relatively intact until the 18th century, when it was destroyed by quarrying activity. The recumbent stone was originally further south from its present position. It was moved in 1856 when a local landowner had it overturned, hoping to find a mortise socket under it, but he found nothing.

In recent years the Long Stone has become the focus of modern pagan rituals due to stories that the recumbent stone was once a sacrificial altar.

The site was excavated in 1956 when small sherds of pottery were discovered along with a flint scraper. The excavation revealed a revetment kerb on the north side of the monument.

The Long Stone at sunset

Long Stone Legends

A local tradition says that the two stones are evidence of a wager between St Catherine and the Devil. The story goes that the saint and devil held a contest to determine which of them should control the Isle of Wight.

St Catherine launched her stone first, standing on St Catherine's Down, east of the Long Stone. Her stone landed first and stood upright. The Devil, throwing second, could not match her throw and his stone landed at the foot of the saint's stone.

The position of the two stones, one towering over the other, is said to represent the victory of good over evil.

Now, having described the burial mound in detail, I have to say that in person, you can see very little of the mound. For my money, the main reason to visit the Long Stone is for the remaining two stones and the superb views over the Mottistone Estate.

The views from Long Stone are fantastic

Getting There

A waymarked trail runs from the Mottistone Garden car park, leading up the steep slope of the hill to the west of the garden. The trail leads through picturesque bluebell woods, up the slope of the downs, before emerging into the open at the Long Stone. This is a short but moderately strenuous walk.

As an alternative, you can park on Strawberry Lane, to the east, for a longer but gentler walk to the long barrow. There is even a third, very small parking area even further along Strawberry Lane, with a footpath leading directly to Long Stone.

From the Long Stone, a very short trail carries on to nearby Castle Hill, an Iron Age hillfort offering wonderful views over the surrounding countryside.