What Were Chambered Tombs?

Chambered tombs were Neolithic tombs that date from the period 4100 BC to 3000 BC, a very ancient time in which few people inhabited Britain. A their name suggests, chambered tombs had one or more stone built burial chambers and. They also had an entrance that could be sealed and reopened to accept further burials. Arthur's Stone on Merbach Hill near Dorstone in Herefordshire was a Neolithic tomb used for collective burial.

There are several different types of chambered tomb, all of which contained quite a lot of earth and rubble. Portal dolmen tombs, which are known as quoits in Cornwall and cromlechs in Wales are simple structures with a large capstone supported by upright slabs, two of which form the entrance to the tomb.

The later gallery graves of the Cotswold Severn group have an external appearance that is not unlike the long barrows of the Neolithic people. These contain a series of chambers that lank a central passage.