The primary burial

The primary burial was of a man aged between 35 and 45. He died sometime between 2330 and 2130 BC. He was very robustly built and quite tall for the time: about 5 feet 10 inches (1.78 m). He was suffering from slight arthritis. Marks on his bones, and those of the other people in the barrow, show that they were used to squatting. It is unknown if this was due to their work or just how they sat. His teeth had no disease but were well worn, showing he ate mainly a gritty diet of cereals.

The grave goods

Wrist-guard from the grave in the British Museum

The grave goods of the primary burial are rare and prestigious. There is a large "beaker" pot and a copper dagger, common items found in graves of the time. There is also a piece of oak charcoal; it is unknown what this was for and archaeologists have been unable to provide an adequate explanation why it was buried in the grave. There is an unusual pendant made of either bone from a sperm whale or walrus ivory. Yet the most luxurious item is a stone wrist-guard. These stone wrist-guards normally have between two and six holes carefully drilled into them. However, the wrist-guard from Barnack has eighteen holes, and each one was filled with a foil-thin disc of gold. The wrist-guard. made of greenstone, was never intended to be worn since the gold caps in the holes would have stopped it from being tied to the arm. Fewer than a hundred such wrist-guards have been found in Great Britain and the example from Barnack is arguably the finest. A similar less refined wrist-guard from Driffield in Yorkshire is also in the British Museum.

Barnack stone

Oolitic Lincolnshire limestone, including some called "Barnack rag", was a valuable building stone first used by the Romans. Quarrying continued in the Middle Ages when the abbeys at Peterborough, Crowland, Ramsey, Sawtry and Bury St Edmunds all used Barnack stone, and the monasteries frequently were in dispute over the rights to it. Blocks of stone were transported on sleds to the river Welland and loaded onto barges on which they were taken down the River Nene and the Fenland waterways. Most notably, Barnack stone was used to build Peterborough and Ely Cathedrals.^[8] Barnack stone was also used extensively for buildings in Stamford.^[9]

It is likely that the stone was also carved in the village. A possible Barnack school of Anglo-Saxon sculpture has been identified.^[10]

The stone was used for numerous buildings in Barnack itself, most notably the parish church. Another notable example is 7 Station Road, which is a 13th^[8] or 14th century house remodelled in the 16th or early 17th century.^[11] It is a Grade II* listed building.

The best Barnack stone had been worked out by about 1460, but after the dissolution of the monasteries, supplies became available from demolition of the Fenland monasteries and was re-used in Cambridge colleges.^[12][13] Lesser-quality Barnack stone continued to be quarried until the 18th century,^[8] and in 1825 it was quarried as roadstone for the Great North Road.^[9]

After the useful stone had been removed, the bare heaps of lime-rich rubble were gradually covered by a rich carpet of wild flowers, such as the pasque flower and pyramidal orchid, which can be seen today. The quarry area, now a national nature reserve and Site of Special Scientific Interest,^[14][15] is called the "Hills and Holes"^[8] or "Hills and Hollows".

Barnack tower mill, built in 1797 and restored in 1959–62

Apples

The 'Barnack Beauty' apple variety was first cultivated here in about 1840.^[16]

Mills

Barnack water mill was built in the 18th century.^[17] Its undershot water wheel is in situ but none of the mill's interior machinery remains.^[17]

Barnack windmill is a tower mill built of Barnack stone in 1797.^[18] Its commercial use as a mill ceased in 1914^[18] and for a time it stood derelict.^[8] Its interior machinery survives complete and the mill was restored in 1959–62.^[18]

Railways

In 1846 the Syston and Peterborough Railway opened. It included a station in the parish about 1 mile (1.6 km) north of Barnack. It was nearer Uffington, Lincolnshire than Barnack, so initially it was called Uffington station. The Syston – Peterborough line was absorbed by the Midland Railway, which in 1858 renamed the station Uffington and Barnack. British Railways closed the station in 1952, and that line's nearest station to Barnack is now Stamford. The disused Uffington and Barnack station survives and is a listed building.^[19]

In 1867 the Great Northern Railway opened a branch line linking Stamford and Wansford, with a Barnack railway station on the east side of the village. The London and North Eastern Railway absorbed the GNR in 1923 and closed the branch line in 1929.

School and village hall

In the middle of the 19th century a house in the village built in 1797 was converted into the parish school.^[20] In the 20th century the school moved to new premises and the building was converted into the village hall.^[20]