Soulton Long Barrow


The Soulton Long Barrow is a modern memorial in the form of a long barrow in the Soulton landscape near Wem in Shropshire, England.
The barrow contains niches for the placement of cremation 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.

Inspiration

The monument is inspired by Neolithic 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, Cambridgeshire. It takes inspiration from among other monuments Bryn Celli Ddu, Barclodiad y Gawres, and Stoney Littleton Long Barrow. Developing the barrow involved collaboration with archaeologists at the University of Cambridge
The gate for the barrow was designed by Giles Smith, winner, in the Assemble Collective, of the 2015 Turner Prize.
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

pIn April, 2019, the monument was covered on an episode of BBC Countryfile, being visited by Matt Baker and Ellie Harrison.
The monument was included in the 2020 Architecture Foundation exhibition "Congregation", in St Mary Magdalene, Paddington. 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 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.

Soulton Standing Stones

There is a sequence of standing stones, signaling the route to the barrow from Soulton Road.
Three megalithic limestone standing stones are located on the access route to the barrow.
These were added to the approach route to the barrow in autumn 2017.
The stone for these monoliths, as with the barrow itself, came from Churchfield Quarry, Oundle, near Peterborough.
There is no deliberate alignment beyond way-marking for these standing stones.

C19 Stone

In 2020, a standing stone, with an alignment to the setting sun on the winter solstice, was added to the ritual landscape to acknowledged the suffering of the families impacted by the Coronavirus Pandemic.

Modern Henge Monument

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

See Also

The following modern barrows: